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LIFE 



SIR WALTER SCOTT 



CRITICAL NOTICES OF HIS WRITINGS. 



By GEORGE ALLAN, Esq. 



V 
PHILADELPHIA . 

PUBLISHED BY CRISSY, WALDIE & CO. 
1835. 



.A 



ADVERTISEMENT 



AMERICAN EDITION. 



The following authentic and valuable biography of 
Sir Walter Scott is the first extended sketch of the 
life of the author of the Waverley novels which has 
appeared. It has been received in England and Scot- 
land with distinguished favour ; its accuracy and impar- 
tiality have elicited warm approbation from all parties ; 
and its perusal will, it is hoped, gratify the numerous 
admirers of Sir Walter in this country. No expense 
has been spared on the volume, to the embellishment of 
which the publishers have enlisted the talents of Mr. 
Oscar Lawson, a young artist of great merit. The en- 
graving of Abbotsford is offered as a specimen of the 
arts in this country. 



LIFE 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

CHAPTER I. 

INFANCY AND BOYHOOD. 1771 1785. 

In tracing the growth and formation of a mind Uke Scott's, no cha- 
racteristic or influential incident ought to be omitted, however trifling it 
might seem if standing alone. The facuhies which first develop them- 
selves in the child, are the receptive and imitative. It is not before the 
years of mature manhood that the human being asserts an individual 
character. The workings of infant thought are left in a great measure 
to be inferred from the persons and scenes which surround the child, 
from the degree of quickness of apprehension and of reflection that it 
shows, and from its pretty mimicry of the serious actions of man. The 
evanescent feelings of that early age retain no place in the memory, and 
those of observant bystanders are too remote to enter into or appreciate 
them. These observations are thrown out, in the hope that they may 
obviate any censure likely to be passed upon the following narrative, on 
the score of its being at times minute and trifling. They will at least 
explain to the reader why we have sought to preserve as many traits as 
possible of the relatives who surrounded the boyhood of the poet. 

Walter Scott, the father of the poet, was born in 1729. It does not 
appear that his father, although an enterprising agriculturist, was 
a wealthy man, and his family was numerous. It is true that the 
old man was connected with opulent and influential families, but we 
have been unable to ascertain that they extended the hand of patronage 
to his sons at their outset in life. Walter, however, (and this character 
he seems to have shared with his brothers,) was of an unimaginative, 

B 



10 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

clear-sighted, persevering disposition. Having passed Writer to the 
Sioiiet in the year 1755, he managed, with or without the aid of patrons, 
to draw to himself a large share of professional business, and to accu- 
mulate a handsome fortune. At the period when the son who was after- 
wards to illustrate his name was born to him, he was a personable man 
on the wrong side of forty, frugal and methodical in his habits, a rigid 
disciplinarian in his family, strict and sharp in matters of business. In 
his political sentiments he was a whig, such as whigs then were — jea- 
lous of the superior pretensions of the aristocracy, afraid even of the 
memory (for it was then nothing more) of the turbulent spirit of the 
Jacobites, attached to the existing order of things for the sake of quiet. 
In his religious sentiments — and he was somewhat ostentatious in pro- 
fessing them — he was a strict Calvinistic Presbyterian. He was withal 
an honest man, and fond of a sly quiet joke. 

The wife of this gentleman to whom he must have been married some 
time between the years 1760 and 1768, for the precise date has not 
been ascertained, was Anne Rutherford. Her father. Dr. John Ruther- 
ford, was one of the four scholars of Boerhaave who founded the medical 
school of Edinburgh, and a physican in extensive practice. Her mother 
was a daughter of Swinton of Swinton, the representative of one of the 
oldest families in Berwickshire. 

Mrs. Scott was of small stature and plain features, and up to the 
birth of her iirst child extremely delicate in her health. Her father took 
great pains with her education, placing her at a school for young ladies, 
attended by many of the female nobility and gentry of Scotland. Re- 
specting Mrs. Euphemia Sinclair, the head of this institution, Sir Wal- 
ter once expressed himself to Mr. Robert Chambers thus : — " To judge 
by the proficiency of her scholars, although much of what is called ac- 
complishment might then be left untaught, she must have been possessed 
of uncommon talents for education : for all the ladies above-mentioned" 
(the list includes Mrs. Scott) "had well cultivated minds, were fond of 
reading, wrote and spelled admirably, were well acquainted with history 
and with the belles lettres, without neglecting the more homely duties of 
the needle and accompt book ; and while two of them were women of 
extraordinary talents, all of them were perfectly well bred in society." 
The ingenious gentleman who has preserved this piece of information 
likewise informs us : — " Sir Walter further communicated that his mo- 
ther and many others of Mrs. Sinclair's pupils were sent, according to a 
fashion then prevalent in good society, to be finished off by the Honoura- 
ble Mrs. Ogilvie, a lady who trained her young friends to a style of 
manners which would now be considered intolerably stiff. For in- 
stance, no young lady in sitting was permitted ever to touch the back of 
her chair. Such was the eflect of this early training upon the mind of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. H 

Mrs. Scott, that even when she approached her eightieth year, she took 
as much care to avoid touching her chair with her back, as if she had 
been still under the stern eye of Mrs. Ogilvie." 

A mind naturally active, and awakened by careful tuition, must have 
been still farther stimulated by the company which assembled in the 
house of a man who held so high a station in tlie scientific world of 
Edinburgh as her father. According to the testimony of Sir Walter, 
Mrs. Scott was fond of poetry ; and all her surviving friends agree to 
represent her as a person of much shrewdness, possessed of a large 
fund of anecdote. In the language of an humble friend, intelligent be- 
yond his opportunities, who was long one of the principal agents of her 
charities, — " She, like her husband, was strictly pious, and while able 
to attend divine service sat with her servant in the West Church. She 
was much in the habit of reading books of devotion, and of causing them 
to be read to her. She was in her household economy most frugal, yet 
without meanness ; and in her charities she was unbounded. She had 
many pensioners : paying the rent of some, allowing others a weekly 
stipend, with a present of clothes and coals at the beginning of winter. 
Her maids were often out on errands of mercy." 

There was little of romance in the union of two such characters. 
The lady, of whom a confidante relates that although blessed with a 
large family of children, (their number was at least ten,) she still wished 
for more, found in all probability that in the eyes of the young and 
fashionable the plainness of her person was not compensated by the ac- 
complishments of her mind. The steady lawyer, who had reached the 
time of life when "the heyday of the blood is tame," could appreciate 
the value of a rational companion, and could scarcely be insensible to 
the advantages likely to accrue from a union with one so well connected. 
When two persons of diff'erent sexes have learned to regard each other 
in this light, a little intimacy soon produces attachment enough to be 
the basis of a comfortable marriage. 

The fruit of this union was, as we have already intimated, a family of 
some ten children. Of these Sir Walter Scott, the subject of our nar- 
rative, was, according to one account, the third, while another repre- 
sents him as the fourth. None of the others attained to any distinction, 
and with the exception of his immediately younger brother Thomas, 
none of them were so intertwined with the after events of his life, as to 
render their appearance in our story necessary. We may therefore 
briefly dispose of them here. Robert, the eldest born, died captain of 
a vessel in the East India Company's service. John, the second, who, 
after sufl'ering long with bad health, died in his mother's house, rose to 
be major of the 78th. Anne died unmarried, of a brain fever, and an- 
other daughter was still-bom. Daniel, the youngest, served in Holland 



12 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

under Sir Ralph Abercromby, as a lieutenant in the 5th regiment of 
loot. He subsequently left the army, and commenced merchant in 
Leith. Having suffered severe losses, he went abroad, whence he re- 
turned in bad health, and died in his mother's house. If Mr. and Mrs. 
Scott had any more children, their names have not survived. Miss 
Scott is said to have been handsome and amiable. The brothers were 
remarkable for nothing in their boyhood but good health and untameable 
spirits. In manhood they performed with more or less ability the 
routine duties of their station, and dedicated their leisure liours to the 
pursuit of such pleasures as they were capable of enjoying. With this 
brief notice we leave them, to turn to the immediate subject of our nar- 
rative. 

Waxter Scott was born on the 15th of August, 1771. According 
to the account given by the woman who nursed his brother Thomas, 
and had the charge of himself at the same time, he was " as fine sonsy 
a bairn as ever M'onian held in her arms." He had attained his twenty- 
second month, and could already walk, tolerably well for a child of his 
age, when the girl was awakened by his screams one morning between 
one and two o'clock. She lifted him from the bed and set him on his 
feet, but he sunk down. On feeling his right leg it was cold as marble. 
Mrs. Scott was immediately alarmed, and a messenger despatched for 
her father, every eflbrt of whose skill was tried in vain. This account 
of the origin of Scott's lameness, we are inclined to believe in preference 
to that which represents it as having been caused by a fall, for various 
reasons. The nurse, who is still alive, relates the circumstances Avith 
so much simplicity, and at the same time with such minuteness of de- 
tail, as shows how deeply the events of that night have been imprinted 
on her memory. The suspicion which might attach to her as interested 
in removing the charge of carelessness from herself, is effaced by the 
coiToborating evidence of another female domestic then in the family, 
Avho likewise still survives. The cause of the lameness was in all pro- 
bability a paralytic affection, superinduced, or at least aggravated, by a 
scrofulous habit of body. 

Be the cause of his lameness, however, what it might, it is certain 
that his general health suffered severely. The " sonsy bairn" continued 
for upwards of two years a pining child. It was only at the end of that 
period that he became able to move about a little iipon crutches. After 
recovering thus far, however, he continued slowly but steadily to gain 
strength, until in his lifth year he was so far recovered, that his anxious 
parents could venture to trust him out of their sight. He was then sent 
to the charge of his grandfather at Sandy Knowe, in the hope that the 
free life of a country boy might confirm his health. 

It is impossible to say how far the scenes and persons immediately 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 13 

around him might, even at this early period of life, have left lasting im- 
pressions upon his mind. He w^as born in a house belonging to his 
father, situated at the head of the College Wynd, which has since been 
removed to afford space to the new university buildings. The two lower 
flats of this tenement were occupied by another family ; the third, which 
was accessible by a stair from behind, was the dwelling of Mr. Walter 
Scott. From this locality, the environs of which must then have been 
much more confined, and equally dingy as now, the family removed 
soon after Walter's birth to a new house in George Square. The in- 
fant eye Avas here allowed to dwell upon a less confined and more cheer- 
ful scene. The neighbouring meadows here allowed him to enjoy the 
fresh country air in the arms of his nurse. In all probability it is to 
some adventure in this neighbourhood that we owe the following passage 
in " My Aunt Margaret's Mirror," — a circumstance strongly corrobo- 
rative of a belief which we hold in common with many, that the passions 
stirred up in the breast of childhood long survive the images of their 
exciting causes, winding through human life like a stream whose source 
is hidden. " Every step of the way after I have passed through the 
green already mentioned, has for me something of an early remem- 
brance. There is the stile at which I can recollect a cross child's maid 
upbraiding me with my infirmity, as she lifted me coarsely and care- 
lessly over the flinty steps, which my brothers traversed with shout 
and bound. I remember the suppressed bitterness of the moment, and 
conscious of my own inferiority, the feeling of envy with which I re- 
garded the easy movements and elastic steps of my more happily formed 
brethren. Alas ! these goodly barks have all perished on life's vnde 
ocean, and only that which seemed so little sea-worthy, as the naval 
phrase goes, has reached the port when the tempest is over." 

The following anecdotes whicla refer to this period of his life, although 
their exact dates cannot be ascertained, (nor is that. matter of much con- 
sequence,) may be considered as serving to indicate his temper and turn 
of mind as a child. One nursery-maid who still survives, and seems to 
retain a vivid recollection that he was at times too many for her, says, 
that " he often kept the nursery in an uproar, using his crutch upon his 
brothers with good effect." "The cook-maid," pursues our informant, 
" had angered him on one occasion, when he, to punisli her, drowned 
a whole litter of puppies in the water-cistern." That day at dinner he 
refused to eat any, and the investigation naturally set on foot in conse- 
quence of such an unwonted phenomenon brought his misdeed to light. 
One anecdote more of infancy, and we will follow him to the country. 
Even when a child, he was pleased and happy in a thunder-storm. A 
violent tempest of this kind happening to break over the town one after- 
noon, shortly after Wattie began to I'un about on crutches, the frightened 



14 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

children were collected into the nursery by their scarcely less frightened 
attendants. He was no where to be seen ; the family became alarmed 
at his absence ; and the domestics were despatched in all directions in 
search of him. No word however could be heard of Wattie, untU acci- 
dentally one of the men-servants had occasion to go to the back garden, 
where to his surprise he found the child lying on his back, clapping his 
little hands at every flash of lightning, and crying " bonnie, bonnie." 
He was carried into the house drenched with rain, and screaming with 
vexation at being disturbed. It seems to us that even in these trifling 
incidents may be discerned traces perhaps of a slight degree of that 
irascibility necessarily attendant upon protracted sickness, but at the 
same time of a temper inclining to drollery, bold and fearless, determined 
to keep its own under every disadvantage, and claiming kindred with 
the grand and beautiful. 

Sandy Knowe, the residence of his paternal grand-father, is situated 
near the border line of the rich arable strath of the Tweed, where the 
land rises towards the wild pasture-lands of the Lammermuirs. The 
farm-house is situated on a braehead, beneath the shelter of the rude 
crao-s on which the tower of Smailholm is built. But we have a sketch 
of the scene in Marmion. 

" And feelings roused in life's first day, 
Glow in the line, and prompt the lay. 
» Then rise these crags, that mountain tower. 

Which charmed my fancy's waking hour : 
Though no broad river swept along 
To claim perchance heroic song ; 
Though sighed no groves in summer gale 
To prompt of love a softer tale : 
Though scarce a puny streamlet's speed 
Claimed homage from a shepherd's reed ; 
Yet was poetic impulse given, 
By the green hill and pure blue heaven. 
It was a barren scene and wild, 
Where naked cliffs were rudely piled ; 
But ever and anon between 
Lay velvet tufls of loveliest green ; 
And well the lonely infant knew 
Recesses where the wall-flower grew. 
And honey-suckle loved to crawl 
Up the low crag and ruined wall. 
I deemed such nooks the sweetest shade 
The sun in all his round surveyed ; 
And still I thought that shattered tower 
The mightiest work of human power." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 15 

The master of the mansion is spoken of by his grandson, in the 
" Border Antiquities," in these words : — " The poet's grandfather, Mr. 
Robert Scott of Sandy Knowe, though both descended from and aUied 
to several respectable Border families, was chiefly distinguished for the 
excellent good sense and independent spirit which enabled him to lead 
the way in agricultural improvement, — then a pursuit abandoned to per- 
sons of a very inferior description. His memory was long preserved in 
Teviotdale, and still survives as that of an active and intelligent farmer, 
and the father of a family all of whom were distinguished by talents, 
probity, and remarkable success in the pursuits which they adopted." 
It does not appear, however, from any thing we can learn, that the old 
gentleman was exempted from the usual fate of improvers, a race of men 
who teach others how to acquire riches, but rarely secure any portion 
of the glittering bait to themselves. 

A story introduced into the preface to the last edition of Guy Man- 
nering, gives a fine jolly idea of this land-improver of the early half of 
the eighteenth century. "My grandfather, while riding over Charter- 
house Moor, then a very extensive common, fell suddenly among a 
large band of gipsies, who were carousing in a hollow of the moor, sur- 
rounded by bushes. They instantly seized on his horse's bridle with 
many shouts of welcome, exclaiming, (for he was well known to most 
of them,) that they had often dined at his expense, and he must now 
stay and share their good cheer. My ancestor was a little alarmed, for, 
like the goodman of Lochside, he had more money about his person 
than he had cared to risk in such society. However, being naturally a 
bold lively-spirited man, he entered into the humour of the thing, and sat 
down to the feast, which consisted of all the varieties of game, poultry, 
pigs, and so forth, that could be collected by a wide and indiscriminate 
system of plunder. The dinner was a very merry one, but my relative 
got a hint from some of the older gipsies to retire just when 

' The mirth and fun grew fast and furious,' 

arid mounting his horse accordingly, he took a French leave of his en- 
tertainers." Quite in keeping with the figure which the tenant of Sandy 
Knowe here cuts, is a story we have heard that he and his dame made 
a runaway marriage. But this story rests upon the authority of one 
who asserts that she was servant in his house at the time of the mar- 
riage, i. e. previous to 1729. 

His appearance in old age, the period of his life at which his grand- 
child knew him, is thus described : — 

" the thatched mansion's grey-haired sire ; 



16 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Wise without learning, plain and good, 
And sprung of Scotland's gentler blood : 
Whose eye in age, quick, clear and keen. 
Showed what in youth its glance had been; 
Whose doom contending parties sought. 
Content witli equity unbought." 

The wife of this excellent old man was still alive at the time of young 
Walter's transference to Sandy Knowe, but of her, beyond this, that she 
was a Halyburton of Newmains, no record has been preserved. More 
is remembered of his " aunt Jenny," of whom a worthy cotemporary, 
still surviving, avers that " she did all but bear him." A lady who re- 
members Miss Jenny well, describes her as " clever but satirical ; a wo- 
man of great kinchiess of disposition, but who would not pass a flaw 
without having a fling at it." She is said to have possessed an im- 
mense store of ballads and legendary tales. She seems in her more 
advanced years to have settled down into what is commonly called " a 
character ;" for a lady of rank who was much attached to her, and with 
whom she spent much of her time, used to exclaim, "Oh! Jenny, 
Jenny, you will be in print yet." Be this as it may, this delicious spe- 
cimen of that dearest of God's creatures, an old maiden (or widowed 
and childless) aunt, devoted herself from the first to her " puir lame lad- 
die," with all a mother's love. She watched and cherished him, guarded 
him from accidents, and coddled him with little dainties ; told tales to 
amuse his waking hours, and sung him to sleep at nights. For a course 
of years she persevered in these attentions, making frequent sacrifices of 
her personal comforts when any prospect ofijered of establishing his 
health. And well did her nursling repay her attentions. She has not 
"been in print" yet; the subject was too holy to be laid bare to the 
public gaze. 

There were two more of the old man's grandchildren inmates of his 
house when Walter arrived, both of whom were younger than the 
stranger. One of them still remembers him as kind and attentive to 
them, — as " a famous play-fellow." He used to limp about, leaning on 
his little crutch, with the lesser imps trotting after him. His own re- 
miniscences of this period will serve to fill up the sketch which this 
good lady has left imperfect : — 

" For I was wayward, bold, and wild, 
A self-will'd imp, a grandame's child ; 
But half a plague and half a jest, 
Was still endured, beloved, carest." 

It may appear fanciful to some, but we feel thoroughly convinced 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 17 

that in this situation the first germs of those imaginings to which he 
owed his future eminence were planted in his mind. The mtensity 
with which he has been able to identify himself with the feelings which 
animate the " farmer's ha'," could never have been awakened in after 
life. He was a denizen of that abode of homely shrewdness and glow- 
ing comfort. Educated in a town, he might have felt the strength and 
humour of Dinmont's character, but he could not have entered into the 
depth and warmth of his affections. He knew from experience how 
much sterling nobility of sentiment is compatible with what appears to 
the finical children of the conventional circles mere rudeness. He was 
taught to feel the difference between ti-ue worth and refinement, and 
when in after life he sought for heroes to his tales, he had no prejudices 
to lay aside, and threw himself at once boldly into the arms of nature. 
The spirit of holiness too which has breathed over the rural life of Scot- 
land settled down upon him. In a poem from which we have already 
inade more than one extract, he describes 

the venerable jiriest, 

Our frequent and familiar guest, — 
Whose life and manners well could paint 
Alike the student and the saint. 

But there were more exciting forms mingling at times in the groups. 
Speaking of the prototype of Meg Merrilies, he says, " When a child, 
and among the scenes which she frequented, I have often heard these 
stories, and cried piteously for poor Jean Gordon." Nay, he had oc- 
casion to see such figures with the eyes of the body as well as of the 
mind. " Notwithstanding the failure of Jean's issue, for which 

" Weary fa' the waefu' wuddie,' 

a grand-daughter survived her, whom I remember to have seen. That 
is, as Dr. Johnson had a shadowy recollection of Queen Anne, as a 
stately lady in black, adorned with diamonds, so my memory is haunted 
with a solemn remembrance of a woman of more than female height, 
dressed in a long red cloak, who commenced acquaintance by giving me 
an apple, but whom, nevertheless, I looked on with as much awe as the 
future doctor. High Church and Tory as he was doomed to be, could 
look upon the queen. I conceive this woman to have been Madge 
Gordon." Tales of that savage life which had long maintained its place 
amid advancing civilization, like a patch of moor in the midst of a highly 
cultivated country, were the marvels which circulated round the fire as 
young Scott clung to his grandsire's knees, and a stray specimen of the 



19 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

tribe still survived to lend greater reality to the dreams which those wild 
stories conjured up. 

The same remark holds good with regard to his aunt's thousand and 
one tales of border strife, and her snatches of old songs. The land 
around Smailholm is haunted ground. In front rise the wizard Eildon 
hills, behind the no less wizard tower of Learmont. Storied Melrose 
and Dryburgh " peep from leafy shade," and the " broom o' the Cow- 
denknowes," still waves on the one hand, while " Yarrow braes" and 
" Gala water" rise and roll on the other. The minds of children feel 
as intense delight in the bare apprehension of facts, as our more jaded 
fancies in the most wayward combinations of poetry. Nay, poetry is 
to them but as any other narrative : its deeper sense, the witching atmos- 
phere that breathes about it, they cannot feel. It serves the same as 
prose to store their minds with images, over which, when the dormant 
power awakens within them, they may exercise " sovereign sway and 
masterdom," With what intenseness of reality then must the most 
lovely creations of the Scottish muse have presented themselves to 
young Scott, — how deeply must they have impressed themselves on his 
belief, and intermingled with his being, when the scene of every legend 
lay visible before him. There is something in this blending of fiction 
and truth, which, to the mind of a child, is almost equivalent to reality. 

The exact duration of the boy's stay at Sandy Knowe we have not 
been able to ascertain. On the death of her father, the warm-hearted 
and indefatigable aunt Jenny took up her residence in Kelso, and thither 
the child of so many cares accompanied her. Miss Scott inhabited, 
while resident in Kelso, a small house in the east corner of the church- 
yard, called " the Garden," which our informant believes to have been 
her own property. At a short distance, and in a house which commu- 
nicated by means of a back lane with Miss Jenny's, dwelt her sister, 
Mrs. Carle or Curll. The nieces who had resided at Smailholm ac- 
companied their aunt to Kelso as well as Walter. The sisters spent 
much of their time together, and the juvenile members of Miss Jenny's 
establishment seem to have regarded the house of either aunt indifferently 
as their home. Miss Jenny mixed a good deal in the most genteel so- 
ciety that the place afforded, and was highly esteemed by all who knew 
her. 

Miss Jenny's house was situated, as has already been mentioned, at 
a corner of the church-yard. The parish school-house was erected 
within the enclosure which surrounded " the holy dwelling." The in- 
creasing years and stature of her juvenile proteges, together with the 
immediate vicinity of the place of instruction, determined the good lady 
to send them to school. It is a strange feeling with which children first 
enter the precincts of the " dominie's" ride. A large room filled with 



IIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 19 

long wooden benches, crossing and re-crossing each other, is filled with 
children sorted into classes, each with real or pretended interest mutter- 
ing to itself in half-articulated sounds the lessons it will shortly be called 
upon to repeat. At one end of the apartment is a man ensconced in a 
desk, with a band drawn up in a semicircle round him. They have all 
books in their hands, and he has a large black leather strap lying beside 
him, curiously notched at one end into long narrow " whangs." The 
constrained attitudes of the children, and their subdued, slightly tremu- 
lous voices, show that it is no play that is going forward. If it be win- 
ter, a clear peat fire is blazing in the grate, and the thin blue smoke goes 
dancing up the chimney. If it be summer, the windows are all open, 
and the mild air enters refreshingly through them, bearing upon its 
wings the smell of flowers, or the circling boom of the wild bee. The 
latch lifts with a click, and the new-comer is ushered in. Instantly all 
is silence, and the intense gaze of the silent imps and the strangeness of 
the whole scene appal the little stranger, as holding fast by his friendly 
conductor with one hand, and stuffing the thumb of the other into his 
mouth, he advances with sinking heart towards the master of the place. 
> The teacher to whose care Scott was intrusted, when first introduced 
to a school, was not of a character and appearance likely to assuage the 
fears of his new pupil. He still lives in the memory of Walter's sur- 
viving cousin, as " a big, queer-looking, uncouth man." Another 
schoolfellow describes him as " a strange uncouth-looking person, with 
a two-storied wig, blind of an eye, and withal the worst tempered 
man in Britain." " He must," concludes a friend from whom we 
have received this information, " he must therefore have been an awful 
pedagogue." The name of this unlovely specimen of the schoolmaster 
was not less tremendous than himself, — it was " Launcelot Whale." 

Our information respecting the literary qualifications of this Ogre 
turned schoolmaster, (for his externals certainly qualify him to figure in 
a fairy-tale,) is less precise than that which relates to his figure and tem- 
per. As little do we know of the progress which his pupil made in 
learning while under his care. Walter remained only one year at 
school, and during that time he was engaged in learning Latin, from 
which we infer that his aunt Jenny, or some other inmate of his liome, 
must have taken upon themselves the charge of initiatmg him into the 
earlier rudiments of learning. 

Such of his schoolfellows as recollect Sir Walter Scott at Whale's 
school, agree that he mingled little in the amusements of the rest of the 
boys. One gentleman, whose recollections are more precise than those 
of any other person we have conversed with on the subject, thus speaks 
of hun : — " He was a studious boy, who did not associate much with 
his schopl-companions, which was ascribed to his being lame. The 



20 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

path from the schoolhouse to his aunt's residence necessarily lay through 
the church-yard. A part of the enclosure, not occupied as burying- 
ground, and called ' the Knowes,' was the play-ground of the school- 
boys. I recollect of him passing through this noisy scene to his aunt's, 
heedless of the amusement of his schoolfellows. I do not remember 
that he was at this time particularly intimate with Mr. Ballantyne's 
family. I think there were three of them at school, — David, the oldest 
son, who went to sea, but returned in bad health and died many years 
ago, James and John." Of these two last mentioned gentlemen we 
shall have occasion to speak once and again in the course of our narra- 
tive. 

Scott appears to have formed no intimacy with any of his school- 
mates at Kelso. He was among them, not of them. They knew him 
only as a studious, quiet boy, who, so soon as the school broke up, 
pressed through the noisy and frolicson^e throng with the aid of his 
crutch, seemingly unobservant of all around, and only anxious to shel- 
ter himself in the house of a maiden aunt with whom he resided. Oc- 
casionally they saw him riding about the environs of the town on a 
slieltie, but they came in no closer contact with him. The habits of his 
aunt contributed also to keep him aloof from familiar intercourse with 
boys of his own age. She formed with her sister and the children a 
little social compact, scarcely dependant upon foreign aid for amuse- 
ment. The ladies visited, and were on civil but not on intimate terms 
with their neighbours. There was indeed a repulsive principle at work 
between them and the local aristocracy, which interfered in some mea- 
sure with their cordiality. The Ballantyne and other distinguished 
Kelso families were conscious of greater wealth, and thought the mei-- 
cantile profession more genteel than the agricultural. Miss Jenny and 
her sister, on the other hand, though only daughters of a farmer, had 
good blood in their veins, and looked down with huge disdain on the 
upsetting pretensions of the rich shopkeepers of Kelso. By the ope- 
ration of these causes was Walter Scott's familiar intercourse almost ex- 
clusively restricted to the circle of his aunts and cousins ; and weak in 
body, and accustomed to their society, he does not seem to have enter- 
tained a desire for any other. 

But his parents now began to think Walter sufficiently strong to stand 
the wear and tear of the High-school, and were naturally anxious that 
as little time should be lost as possible ere he commenced that course of 
education which has long been considered in Scotland a necessary pre- 
parative for entering upon any of the liberal professions. Before recall- 
ing him to Edinburgh, another experiment was to be made with his 
weak leg. Some medical man had recommended a trial of the Bath 
waters, and Miss Jenny, whose contented, home-loving disposition 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 21 

would never otherwise have dreamed of such a journey, undertook to 
be his guide and guardian to the heaUng springs. The particulars of 
this excursion, and even its exact date, we have been unable to ascer- 
tain. Our informant however is of opinion that it happened immedi- 
ately prior to his recall to the paternal mansion ; and his name appears 
for the first time in the register of the High School in October, 1779. 

He was now become a tolerably healthy boy ; but his leg, Avhich was 
still extremely weak and easily susceptible of fatigue, aflbrded matter of 
serious care to his parents. Aunt Jenny, in her anxiety, had always 
made him sleep with her, and on his return to Edinburgh the precaution 
was kept up of never allowing him to lie alone. We learn from Mr. 
Chambers, that a certain Gavin Wilson, celebrated for the manufacture 
of artificial legs, was consulted, but without any beneficial result. By 
the advice of a quack of the name of Grahame, the boy used to be laid 
on beds of leaves soaked or sprinkled with strong ale, but with little 
effect, as the reader will easily guess. Nature was more efficient than 
art ; for although he was at first regidarly carried to school in the morn- 
ing, and anxiously confided while there to the protection of his younger 
but more robust brother Thomas, he came in time to be able to indulge 
in long rambles, and to take a part even in the most boisterous amuse- 
ments of his playmates. 

However indulgent his parents might show themselves in regard to 
physical weakness, in every other respect he, along with his brothers, 
was subjected to a most martinet system of drilling. His father, me- 
thodical in every thing, insisted upon the most punctual observance of 
family hours. Their food was wholesome and plentiful, but plain ; and 
with the ascetic affectation of a certain class of citizens of the old school, 
any expression of preference for dainties even of the simplest nature was 
prohibited as a kind of crime. It was esteemed a virtue to appear igno- 
rant of whether the food were palatable or not. One day a quantity of 
soot had accidentally fallen into the broth, and some wry faces were 
made at the black and bitter mess. " Gentlemen," said their father, 
eating away with the most persevering equanimity, " I eat them, and 
you must eat them too." 

In matters of religious discipline, if possible, greater strictness was 
observed ; as beseemed the house of one who was a confidential friend 
of Dr. Erskine, and an elder of his session, and who is still remem- 
bered, propped upon his gold-headed cane and wrapped in liis red cloak, 
earnestly watching the cairn of eleemosynary bawbees heaped on the 
pewter plate at the door of the Greyfriars' church. The theatre was a 
forbidden place. It was then customary for the High School boys to 
desire a play once a year. Attendance on the occasion was not com- 
pulsory, but payment of the ticket was. Old Scott duly paid the 3s. 



22 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

for each of his boys, but refused to permit them to enter the unholy 
precincts, winding up the whole transaction with the remark, " that he 
would rather give it to a charity sermon." 

But Sunday was the day on which the unbending strictness of the 
elder's discipline was exhibited in all its terrors. Beyond enforcing the 
punctual attendance of the whole household, with the exception of one 
maid-servant left at home to superintend the necessary culinary opera- 
tions, on divine service duly forenoon and afternoon, he took no active 
part in the duties of the day, although he watchfully superintended their 
observance. Young Walter's attention to the offices of devotion seems 
not to have been of an uninterrupted character. We have been told 
by an eye-witness that a large Newfoundland dog, belonging to the 
family, used frequently to come to their seat during service, and it was 
a grand manoeuvre on the part of Walter, who seemed always on the 
look-out for him, to open the door and let him quietly in. Then fol- 
lowed, of course, a slight rustle and sly looks, if not smiles, among the 
youngsters, and reproving looks from the old people. 

When Walter returned from Roxburghshire, there was a young pro- 
bationer of the Church of Scotland of the name of Mitchell, now the 
venerable and respected pastor of the Presbyterian congregation at 
Wooler, residing in the family in the capacity of tutor. Family wor- 
ship was daily performed by this gentleman in his own room, at which 
such members of the household as chose to attend were present. On 
the mornings and evenings of the sabbath, however, attendance was im- 
perative. Immediately before evening prayer Mrs. Scott examined the 
whole family, at great length, on religious subjects, with the exception 
of her husband, who remained below. On these occasions Walter al- 
ways distinguished himself by the retentiveness of his memory, and the 
extent of his information. Those who have experienced similar atten- 
tion, on the part of a parent or other relative, to their religious instruc- 
tion, will agree with us as to its beneficial operation, both on the intel- 
lect and the imagination. The restraint, the sameness may at times be 
irksome to the temper of youth, but the exercise afforded to the memory, 
and the habit engendered of watching associations, that we may be ena- 
bled to draw upon our store of knowledge at a moment's warning, in- 
vigorate the mind ; while the sense of reverential awe with which the 
task is performed, confirmed by habit, softens and attunes the mind, and 
furnishes to future years one of our most solemn, elevated, and tender 
objects of recollection. Even after Mr. Mitchell's departure the prac- 
tice was continued, recourse being had to any stray preacher or student 
of theology that could be laid hold of. Concomitant upon this strict 
sanctification of the Sabbath, and indeed guaranteeing its observance, 
was seclusion from the visits of friends on that day. The oldest sur- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 23 

viving servant of the family only remembers one gentleman admitted to 
partake of the Sunday " sheephead broth," a Mr. M'Intosh, who used 
occasionally to dine with the family on the Sabbath. 

Whilst subjected to this family discipline, Walter was admitted to par- 
ticipate in the instruction afforded at the High School. He attended 
that seminary four seasons. From October 1779 till the commence- 
ment of the autumn vacation of 1781, he belonged to the class of Mr. 
Luke Fraser. From October 1781 till the commencement of the autumn 
vacation of 1783, he was a pupil in the class of the rector. Dr. Alexan- 
der Adam. 

Mr. Luke Fraser bore the character of one of the severest flagellators 
even of the old schoo]. He was at the same time a sound and critical 
scholar. He was one of those accurate and painstaking teachers who 
will give his scholars a complete command of the language in which he 
undertakes to instruct them,' if any one can. Of the use to which it may 
be put, of the treasures which it preserves, he may have no notion, but 
he will make them so thoroughly acquainted with the language itself, 
that if their abilities lie that way they may master every purpose to 
which it can be turned. The course of study through which he led his 
pupils has been recorded by a biographer : " He first caused his scholars 
to get by heart Ruddiman's Rudiments, and as soon as they were tho- 
roughly grounded in the declensions, the vocabulary of the same great 
grammarian was put into their hands, and a small number of words pre- 
scribed to be repeated every morning. They then read in succession the 
Colloquies of Corderius, four or five lives of Cornelius Nepos, and the 
four first books of Caesar's Commentaries. Ere this course was per- 
fected, the greater part of Ruddiman's Grammatica Majora, in Latin, 
was got by heart. Select passages from Ovid's Metamorphoses, the 
Bucolics, and the first -^neid of Virgil, concluded the fourth year, after 
which the boys were turned over to the rector." This is an exact de- 
scription of the routine course of the old Scotish teacher of Latin, whose 
business it was to teach the boys Latin, and who never dreamed of 
teaching them any thing else. Under a careful master of this kind, the 
pupils really acquired the language, and incidentally habits of accurate 
observation and reflection ; under our more moderate pedagogues who, 
along with Latin, seek to give them an insight into criticism, history, 
geography, &c. &c. &c., they get their heads confused by indistinct 
notions of every thing, and their characters ruined for life by conceit. 

Adam, the earliest specimen upon record of the class of teachers to 
which we alluded in the last paragraph, was the very reverse of Fraser. 
He was mild and gentle in his deportment. He was one of those who 
valued language only for the information to which it gives us access. 
The difficult circumstances under which his early studies were conducted. 



24 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

had given to his habits of thought a desuUory character, and rendered 
his stocli^ of knowledge fragmentary. He had caught enough of the in- 
quisitive spirit of the age to give him a distaste at the mere practical 
ritles of the grammarians, and to make him anxious to base the rules of 
grammar upon the elementary principles of language. But neither his 
innate streno-th of mind nor his acquired knowledge fitted him for such 
a task. In his grammar, he only succeeded in making the rules of Rud- 
diman less concise and perspicuous, not in rendering them more scienti- 
fic. It is recorded of him by the same amiable and indefatigable anti- 
quary, to whom we are indebted for an account of Mr. Eraser's curricu- 
lum, that "the latter hardly ever introduced a single remark but what 
was intended to illustrate the leller of the author ; whereas Dr. Adam 
commented at great length upon whatever occurred in the course of 
readinw in the class, whether it related to antiquities, customs and man- 
ners, or to history. He was of so communicative a disposition, that 
whatever knowledge he had acquired in his private studies, he took the 
first opportimity of nnparting to his class, paying litde regard to whether 
it was above the comprehension of the greater number of his scholars or 
not. He abounded in pleasant anecdote." 

A remark naturally offers itself to the mind, on reverting to the ac- 
count given of Mr. Eraser's system of tuition. However well calcu- 
lated to impress an accurate knowledge of Latin upon the minds of those 
who went through the whole of the course, it would require uncommon 
exertion upon the part of any one joining the class midway in its career, 
at once to keep pace with it in the daily exercises, and to work back- 
ward in order to obtain the same stable footing with his class-fellows. 
This must have been peculiarly difficult in the case of Walter Scott, 
who had only received instruction in Latin for a year at a provincial 
school, and was plunged at once into the class of this disciplinarian just 
as it was about to start on the third year of its course. When we fur- 
ther add that he was, according to the joint testimony of his mother and 
a favourite domestic of the old lady, who still survives, " a careless boy 
about his lessons," and that " no one ever knew when he got them," 
we will not wonder that his knowledge of Latin was never very critical 
or accurate. The good-natured gossiping tuition of Adam, while it 
touched upon one string of his mind which afterwards vibrated " elo- 
quent music," was ill qualified to mend the matter. Young Scott was 
equaled by few of his associates in his acquaintance with that maze of 
desultory learning into which their teacher was prone to guide them, 
and by his own testimony, he was zealous and regidar in the manufac- 
ture of the versified exercises proposed to them, but in the real business 
of the class he was so far deficient that he was never known to attain a 
higher place than the eleventh. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 25 

A very essential part of the instruction communicated at a public 
school, is the knack of being able to keep one's place among one's fel- 
lows. In this branch of learning Scott seems to have made more de- 
cided progress than in Latin. At the first outset of his High School 
career, we find him cai'ried to school by a servant. "He was very 
fond of it," said our informant, which presents us with a touching pic- 
ture of the weak and delicate boy nestling on a friendly breast. By 
degrees he began to mingle more boldly with his equals in age, but met 
at first with an indifferent reception. He was thrust about, and re- 
garded as a dull boy. One of his juvenile misfortimes is still remem- 
bered. The rest of the infantry of George's Square had been amusing 
themselves by thrusting their heads through the rails which enclose the 
garden in its centre. ■ Walter must needs repeat the operation, but his 
head, which seems to have been as much larger than that of ordinary 
children, as it eventually proved, if we may believe Allan Cunningham, 
smaller than that of ordinary men, stuck in the attempt, and he was 
kept in durance vile until a blacksmith was sent for to relieve him. 

As he gi-ew in strength his spirit assumed a firmer tone, and he learned 
to make aggressors keep their distance. He whose little crutch had at 
an earlier period kept " the nursery in an uproar," made his sturdiest 
assailants quail beneath the weight of his club-foot. He fought his way 
manfully to an equality with his class-fellows, carrying home as trophies 
of his thousand fights, blue eyes and bloody noses innumerable, and 
earning at the hands of the children's maid the dainty epithet of " a 
wearie laddie." One of his juvenile exploits he has himself recorded 
in a passage of considerable pathos. " The manning of the Cowgate 
Port, especially in snow-ball time, was also a choice amusement, as it 
offered an inaccessible station for the boys who used the missiles to the 
annoyance of the passengers. The gateway is now demolished, and 
probably most of its garrison lie as low as the fortress. To recollect 
that the author himself, however naturally disqualified, was one of these 
juvenile dread-noughts, is a sad reflection to one who cannot now step 
over a brook without assistance." 

His most chivalrous exploit in these frays must not pass unnoticed, 
more particularly as he has himself deemed it Avorthy of a lengthened 
commemoration. In this adventure it will be observed that his brother 
Thomas, his guardian when first committed to the perils of the High 
School-yards, stood side by side with him. It was then that he won 
that ardent, active, and enduring attachment which his brother displayed 
towards him in after life. At the conclusion of the boyish adventure 
we are about to quote. Sir Walter adverts to him in words of the fondest 
affection : — " Of five brothers, all healthy and promising, in a degree 
far beyond one whose infancy was visited by personal infirmity, and 



26 CIFE Oi' SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

whose health after this period seemed long very precarious, I am, never- 
theless, the only survivor. The best loved, and the best deserving to 
be loved, who had destined this event to be the Ibundation of a literary 
composition, died ' before his day,' in a distant and foreign land ; and 
trifles assume an importance not their own, when connected with those 
who have been loved and lost. 

" It is well known in the soutli, that there is little or no boxing at 
the Scotish schools. About forty or flfty years ago, however, a far 
more dangerous mode of fighting, in parties or factions, was permitted 
in the streets of Edinburgh, to the great disgrace of the police, and dan- 
ger of the parties concerned. These parties were generally formed from 
the quarters of the town in which the combatants resided, those of a 
particular square or district lighting against those of an adjoining one. 
Hence it happened that the children of the higher classes were often 
pitted against those of the lower, each taking their side according to the 
residence of their friends. So far as I recollect, however, it was un- 
mingled either with feelings of democracy or aristocracy, or indeed with 
malice or ill will of any kind towards the opposite party. In fact, it 
was only a rough mode of play. Such contests were, however, main- 
tained with great vigour with stones, and sticks, and fisticufl^s, when 
one party dared to charge, and the other stood their gi-ound. Of course 
mischief sometimes happened, boys are said to have been killed at these 
bickers, as they were called, and serious accidents certainly took place, 
as many contemporaries can bear witness. 

" The author's father, residing in George Square, in the southern 
side of Edinburgh, the boys belonging to that family, with others in the 
square, were arranged into a sort of company, to which a lady of dis- 
tinction presented a handsome set of colours. Now, this company or 
regiment, as a matter of course, was engaged in weekly warfare with 
the boys inhabiting die Cross-causeway, Bristo street, the Potter-row, — 
in short, the neighbouring suburbs. These last were chiefly of the 
lower rank, but hardy loons, who threw stones to a hair's-breadth, and 
were very rugged antagonists at close quarters. The skirmish some- 
times lasted for a whole evening, until one party or the other was vic- 
torious, when, if ours were successful, we drove the enemy to their 
quarters, and were usually chased back by the reinforcement of bigger 
lads who came to their assistance. If, on the contrary, we were pur- 
sued, as was often the case, into the precincts of our square, we were 
in our turn supported by our elder brothers, domestic servants, and 
similar auxiliaries. 

" It followed from our frequent opposition to each other, that, though 
not knowing the names of our enemies, we were yet well acquainted 
with their appearance, and had nicknames for the most remarkable of 



MFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 27 

them. One very active and spirited boy might be considered as the 
principal leader in the cohort of the suburbs. He was, I suppose, thir- 
teen or fourteen years old, finely made, tall, blue-eyed, with long fair 
hair, the very picture of a youthful Goth. This lad was always first 
in the charge, and last m the retreat— the Achilles at once and Ajax of 
the Cross-causeway. He was too formidable to us not to have a cog- 
nomen, and like that of a knight of old, it was taken from the most re- 
markable part of his dress, being a pair of old gi-een livery breeches, 
which was the principal part of his clothing ; for, like Pentapolin, ac- 
cording to Don Quixote's account, Green-Breeks, as we called him, 
always entered the battle with bare arms, legs, and feel. 

"It fell that once upon a time when the combat was at the thickest, 
this plebeian champion headed a charge so rapid and furious, that all 
fled before him. He was several paces before his comrades, and had 
actually laid his hands upon the patrician standard, when one of our 
party, whom some misjudging friend had intrusted with a couteau de 
chasse, or hanger, inspired with a zeal for the honour of the corps, 
worthy of Major Sturgeon himself, struck poor Green-Breeks over the 
head, with strength sufficient to cut him down. When this was seen, 
the casualty was so far beyond what had ever taken place before, that 
both parties fled diflerent ways, leaving poor Gieen-Breeks with his 
hair plentifully dabbled in blood, to the care of the watchman, who 
(honest man) took care not to know who had done the mischief. The 
bloody hanger was thrown into one of the meadow ditches, and solemn 
secrecy was sworn on all hands, but the remorse and terror of the actor 
were beyond all bounds, and his apprehensions of the most dreadful 
character. The wounded hero was for a few days in the Infirmary, the 
case being only a trifling one. But though inquiry was strongly pressed 
on him, no argument could make him indicate the person from whom 
he had received the wound, though he must have been perfectly well 
known to him. When he recovered, and was dismissed, the author 
and his brothers opened a communication with him, through the medium 
of a popular gingerbread baker, of whom both parties were customers, 
in order to tender a subsidy in the name of smart money. The sum 
would excite ridicule were I to name it ; but sure I am that the pockets 
of the noted Green-Breeks never held as much money of his own. He 
declined the remittance, saying that he would not sell his blood ; but at 
the same time reprobated the idea of being an informer, which he said 
was clam, i. e. base or mean. With much urgency he accepted a pound 
of snuflf for the use of some old woman, — aunt, grandmother, or the 
like, — with whom he lived. We did not become friends, for the bickers 
were more agreeable to both parties than any more pacific amusement ; 



28 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

but we conducled them ever after under mutual assurances of the highest 
consideration for each other." 

We take it to be another proof of his anxiety to get rid of the feeling 
that he was in any thing inferior to his comrades, and of the dawning of 
that strong unbending will which he displayed in after-life, that he was 
most assiduous in his attendance upon the dancing lessons given by a 
master of that art of the name of Wilson, who waited on the family at 
home. One spectator of their performances insists upon it, that Walter 
was the best dancer among them. Nor will our readers be astonished 
at this apparently strange decision, when they recollect that the glide 
wires of Scotland care less for gTace, or exact observance of the measure, 
than the hearty good-will shown by strenuous thumping of the floor : he 
who goes through most hard work in a given time is with them the best 
dancer. Besides his lameness, Walter laboured under another disquali- 
fication ; he had, as the learned in melody express it, no ear. Mr. Alex- 
ander Campbell, organist of an Episcopalian chapel in Edinburgh at the 
time we speak of, but afterwards better known as editor of "Albyn's 
Anthology," laboured, but in vain, to instruct him in music. We learn 
moreover from Burns' Thomson, to whom Sir Walter furnished a few 
songs, that he was under the necessity of furnishing the poet with a 
stanza of the exact rhyme suited to the air for which he wanted words, 
and that upon this pattern-card he modeled his verses. But this anec- 
dote refers to a later period of his life. 

While Scott was thus lounging through the routine of high school 
duties, and mixing with as much apparent keenness and forgetfulness of 
any nobler aim in the rough sports of boyhood as any of his young com- 
peers, the attentive observer might have detected in him the growth of 
hio-her faculties. He had not altogether relinquished those recluse habits 
which his indisposition had superinduced upon him. Although none 
more forward and buoyant when once engaged in play, he often forgot 
to seek it, and seemed as happy in his retirement as when surrounded 
by his comrades. His manners, perhaps from having lived so much 
among females, were gentle and more refined than those of other boys. 
One who was originally a domestic in the family, and in after-Ufe an 
humble but confidential friend, assures us that unlike his brothers, Wal- 
ter was ever " regardful and polite ;" and that, instead of swearing, as 
they were noways loth to do, the strongest expletive she remembers to 
have heard from him at this period (and the good lady, who is some- 
what of a puritan, seems still sufficiently scandalised at it) was " Faith !" 
According to the same source of information, being more amenable to 
censure than his brothers, he was in the custom of receiving both their 
share and his own. Another feature of his character at this age, and on 
this point our informant is corroborated by many others, was fervent 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 29 

piety, "He was a pious devoted creature," is the expression used by 
one authority. In corroboration, rather a characteristic story is related 
of the two brothers WaUer and Thomas. The latter was of course, as 
deleo-ated guardian, obliged to wait Walter's time when setting out for 
school. All our readers cannot have forgot the relish with which boys 
enjoy a few minutes coshering before " the school goes in." Thomas, 
a fine healthy lad, was always on the alert, and dressed in time for " the 
gathering." But AValter had his prayers to say, and in Thomas's esti- 
mation they were somewhat of the longest. " Dod, Wattie," the impa- 
tient youngster was one morning heard to exclaim, " canna ye come 
awa?" " I canna come till I have said my prayers," replied Walter. 
"Set your prayers to the devil, can you no pray whan you come hame 
to breakfast?" 

Much of the time which the boy spent apart from his comrades was 
consumed in reading, for which he had already acquired a strong appe- 
tite. Not contented witli the perusal of such books as he could procure 
at home, or from his fiends, he scraped acquaintance with a JVIr. James 
M'Cleish, who kept a book-shop opposite the Greyfriars' Church, from 
whom he bought and borrovv'ed many a volume. He used to read in 
bed for hours in the mornings and evenings. His favourite attitude 
while studying, if he were up and dressed, was lying upon hi,-- back on 
the carpet, with all his books around him, his lame leg resting upon his 
left thigh, and the book he was reading laid upon the lame foot as on a 
reading-desk. This habit he retained at least as late as the year 1796. 
What the nature of his studies was at the time to which our history at 
present relates, we have been unable to ascertain with any degree of pre- 
cision. We feel fully confident, however, that they were any thing but 
his school-tasks. One informant assures us somewhat disdainfully, 
that " he was fond of reading all kind of nonsense books." Another, 
however, recollects the names of" The Arabian Nights' Entertainments," 
and " RoUin's Ancient History." His mother encouraged this turn for 
books, and often invited him to read aloud to her ; with which request 
he readily complied, but always without any alteration of his supine 
position. The degree to which he was engrossed by a favourite book, 
kindled up a feud against him in the breast of a beauty of the day, 
which has not yet been extinguished. The lady in question, like all 
others with any pretensions to good looks, expected of course homage 
from boys as well as men, and was exceedingly mortified to find that 
Walter preferred the perusal of some romance which he had got hold of 
to her conversation. Her caressing attempts were unavailing, and her 
remonstrances could only draw from him, " who would speak to you?" 
The belle was so annoyed, that, on leaving the room, she could not re- 
sist the temptation to vent her anger, by putting in her head again, and 



30 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

crying " hob-goblin Wattie." The epithet sunk deep, for not many 
years before his death he asked her, if he were still hob-goblin Wattie ? 
This Juno of Dun-Edin, worthy to be so called from her stately beauty 
and masculine strength of mind, in whom 

Manet alta mente repostum 
Judicium Paridis, spretsEque injuria formoe, 

told him he was ten times more so than ever. And she still maintains, 
that "he was a fashious child from over-indulgence, sometimes humour- 
ous, but frequently very dull." 

Besides the delight he took in reading, his original source of pleasure 
and information, the gossiprede of elderly acquaintances were still open 
to him. The pictures of some of those living libraries of romance have 
been traced by himself, and are transferred to these pages, in obedience 
to the suggestions of the principle stated in the outset of our narrative, 
as important indications of what these early impressions were under 
which his mind received its directing bias. 

First on the list deserves to stand George Constable, Esq. of Wal- 
lace Craigie, near Dundee, the original of Jonathan Oldbuck, in the 
Antiquary. In the preface to the last edition of that novel. Sir Walter 
states : — " An excellent temper, with a slight degree of sub-acid hu- 
mour; learning, wit, and drollery, the more poignant that they were a 
little marked by the peculiarities of an old bachelor ; a soundness of 
thought, rendered more forcible by an occasional quaintness of expression, 
were, the author conceives, the only qualities in which the creature of 
his imagination resembled his benevolent and excellent old friend." In 
the introduction to the "Two Drovers," we have an incidental sketch of 
the old gentleman's features superadded — " He had been present, I 
think, at the trial at Carlisle, and seldom mentioned the venerable judge's 
charge to the jury without tears, — which had a peculiar pathos, as flow- 
ing down features carrying rather a sarcastic or almost a cynical ex- 
pression. This worthy gentleman's reputation for shrewd Scotish 
sense, knowledge of our national antiquities, and a racy humour pecu- 
liar to himself, must still be remembered. For myself, I have pride in 
recording, that for many years we were, in Wordsworth's language, — 

' a pair of friends, though I was young, 



And ' George' was seventy -two.' " 

The grains of truth, which it has pleased Sir Walter to separate from 
the delightful total of Oldbuck's character, are exhausted when we add, 
that he once witnessed a scene between Mr. Constable and the female 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 31 

proprietor of a stage-coach, very similar to that which commences the 
history of the Antiquary ; and that to this excellent friend he was 
indebted " for introducing him to Shakspeare, and other invaluable 
favours." 

Next in importance was Mrs. Anne Murray Keith, who had been an 
intimate friend of his mother from the time that they attended the school 
of Mrs. Euphame Sinclair, and dree'd penance under the rigid disci- 
pline of Mrs. Ogilvie. In one of the introductions already quoted, Sir 
Walter confesses, " that the lady, termed in his narrative Mrs. Bethune 
Baliol, was designed to shadow out in its leading points the interesting 
character of a dear friend, Mrs. Murray Keith, whose death occurring 
shortly before, had saddened a wide circle, much attached to her, as 
well for her genuine virtue and amiable qualities of disposition, as for 
the extent of information which she possessed, and the delightful man- 
ner in which she used to communicate it. In truth the author had, on 
many occasions, been indebted to her vivid memory for the substratum 
of his Scotish fictions." 

The picture of Mrs. Baliol, Avhich we are now authorised to take for 
that of Mrs. Keith, is given in these words : — "A little woman, with 
ordinary features and an ordinary form, and hair which in youth had no 
decided colour, we may believe Mrs. Martha, when she said of herself 
that she was never remarkable for personal charms, — a modest admission, 
which was readily confirmed by certain old ladies, her contemporaries, 
who, whatever might have been the youthful advantages which they 
more than hinted had been formerly their own share, were now, in per- 
sonal appearance, as well as in every thing else, far inferior to my ac- 
complished friend. Mrs. Martha's features had been of a kind which 
might be said to wear well ; their irregularity was now of little conse- 
quence, animated as they were by the vivacity of her conversation ; her 
teeth were excellent, and her eyes, although inclining to gray, were 
lively, laughing, and undimmed by time. A slight shade of complexion, 
more brilliant than her years promised, subjected my friend, among 
strangers, to the suspicion of having stretched her foreign habits as far 
as a prudent touch of the rouge. But it was a calumny ; for when 
telling or listening to an interesting or affecting story, I have seen her 
colour come and go as if it played on the cheek of eighteen. 

"Her hair, whatever its former deficiencies, was now the most 
beautiful white that time could bleach, and was disposed with some 
degree of pretension, though in the simplest manner possible, so as to 
appear neatly smoothed under a cap of Flanders lace, of an old-fashioned, 
but, as I thought, of a very handsome form, which undoubtedly has a 
name, and I would endeavour to recur to it, if I thought it would make 
my description a bit more intelligible, I think I have heard her say, 



32 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

these favourite caps had been her mother's, and had come in fashion 
with a pecuUar kind of wig used by the g-entlemen about the time of the 
battle of Ramilhes. The rest of her dress was always rather costly and 
distinguished, especiaUy in the evening. A silk or statin gown of some 
colour becoming her age, and of a form which, though complying to a 
certain degree with the present fashion, had always a reference to some 
more distant period, was garnished with triple ruffles ; her shoes had 
diamond buckles, and were raised a litUe at heel, an advantage which, 
possessed in her youth, she alleged her size would not permit her to 
foreo-o in old age. She always wore rings, bracelets, and other orna- 
ments of value either for the materials or the workmanship ; nay, per- 
haps, slie was a little proi'use in this species of display. But she wore 
them as subordinate matters, to which the habit of being constantly in 
high life rendered her indifferent; she wore them because her rank 
required it, and thouglit no more ol" them as articles of linery, than a 
irentleman, dressed for dinner, thinks of his clean linen and wellbrushed 
coat, the consciousness of which embarasses die rustic beau on a 
Sunday. " 

" Now and then, however, if a gem or ornament chanced to be 
noticed for its beauty or singularity, the observation usually led the 
way to an entertaining account of the manner in which it had been 
acquired, or the person from whom it descended to its present possessor. 
On such, and similar occasions, my old friend spoke willingly, which 
is not uncommon, but she also, which is more rare, spoke remarkably 
well, and had in her little narratives concerning foreign parts, or former 
days, which lormed an interesting part of her conversation, the singTilar 
art of dismissing all the usual protracted tautology respecting time, place, 
and circumstances, Avhich is apt to settle like a mist upon the cold and 
languid tales of age, and, at the same time, of bringing forward, dwelling 
upon, and illustrating, those incidents and characters which give point 
and interest to the story. " 

For this likeness the lady evidently sat at a more advanced period of 
life than she could have reached when her painter was a boy ; and its 
situation as one in a gallery of fancy portraits, renders it liable to the 
suspicion that some features may have been touched up. There is in it, 
however, much that bespeaks the genuine impress of nature, and, there- 
fore, we leave it to the readers. Valeat quantum. We now turn to 
the poet's maternal grand-aunt, Mrs, Margaret Swinton. 

This lady is thus made mention of by her nephew : — "She was our 
constant resource in sickness, or when we tired of noisy play, and closed 
around her to listen to her tales. As she might be supposed to look 
back to the beginning of the last century, the fund which supplied us 
with amusement often related to events of that period. " In another 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 33 

place, he says : — "This good spinster had, in her composition, a strong 
vein of the superstitious, and was pleased, among other fancies, to read 
alone in her chamber, by a taper fixed in a candlestick which she had 
had formed out of a human skull. One night, this strange piece of fur- 
niture acquired suddenly the power of locomotion, and, after performing 
some odd circles on her chimney-piece, fairly leaped on the floor, and 
continued to roll about the apartment. Mrs. Swinton calmly proceed- 
ed to the adjoining room for another light, and had the satisfaction to pe- 
netrate the mystery on the spot. Rats abounded in the ancient build- 
ing she inhabited, and one of them had managed to ensconce itself 
within her favourite memento mori. Though thus endowed with a more 
than feminine share of nerve, she entertained largely that belief in super- 
naturals, which, in those times, was not considered as sitting ungrace- 
fully on the grave and aged of her condition." 

The character of the stories with which she hushed to transient quiet 
the crew of juvenile imps who surrounded her, was in general such 
as might have been expected from a person endowed with such dis- 
positions. The tradition upon which "The Bride of Lammermoor" is 
founded, and the story which forms the ground- work of "My Aunt 
Margaret's Mirror, " were among the number. But there was one in 
particular, Avhich, both on account of the impression it must have made 
upon the young auditor, and as throwing further light upon the forma- 
tion of a character which exercised a strong influence over his thoughts, 
cannot properly be here passed over. We give it in his own words : — 

"Aunt Margaret was, I suppose, seven or eight years old when resid- 
ing in the old mansion-house of Swinton, and already displayed the 
firmness and sagacity which distinguished her through life. Being one 
of a large family, she was, owing to slight indisposition, left at home 
one day when the rest of the family went to church with Sir John and 
Lady Swinton their parents. Before leaving the little invalid, she was 
stricdy enjoined not to go into the parlour where the elder party had 
breakfasted. But when she found herself alone in the upper part of the 
house, the spirit of her great ancestress Eve took possession of my Aunt 
Margaret, and forth she went to examine the parlour in question. She 
was struck with admiration and fear at what she saw there. A lady, 
'beautiful exceedingly,' was seated by the breakfast-table, and employed 
in washing the dishes which had been used. Litfle Margaret would 
have had no doubt in accounting this singular vision an emanation from 
the angelical Avorld, but for her employment, which she could not so 
easily reconcile to her ideas of angels. 

" The lady, with great presence of mind, caUed the astonished child 
to her, fondled her with much kindness, and judiciously avoiding to 
render the necessity of secrecy too severe, she told the girl she must not 



34 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

let any one, except her mother, know that she had seen her. Having 
allowed this escape-valve lor the benefit of her curiosity, the mysterious 
stranger desired tlie little girl to look from the window of the parlour to 
see if her mother was returning from church. When she turned her 
head again, the fair vision had vanished, but by what means Miss Mar- 
garet was unable to form a conjecture. 

"Long watched and eagerly waited for, the Lady Swinton at last re- 
turned from church, and her daughter lost no time in telling her extra- 
ordinary tale. ' You are a very sensible girl, Peggy, ' answered her 
mother, ' for if you had spoken of that poor lady to any one but me, it 
might have cost her her life. But now I will not be afraid of trusting 
you with any secret, and I will show you where the poor lady lies.' In 
fact she introduced her to a concealed apartment, opening by a sliding 
panel from the parlour, and showed her the lady in the hiding-place 
which she inhabited." 

The story of the lady has nothing to do with our present purpose, 
"which is merely to show the strength of character which must have been 
possessed by a woman, vi^ho when a mere girl could be thus relied upon. 
The communications of a beloved relation possessed of so strong an 
understanding, and whose fund of anecdote was collected during the 
stormy period of our latest civil broils, must have sunk deep into infant 
minds. But even in her death, which happened while Scott was yet 
very young, and which he has somewhere termed " the first images of 
horror that the scenes of real life stamped upon my mind," she was 
fated to be deeply impressive. The story, as we give it, is told with 
some unimportant variations by more than one of Mr. Scott's surviving 
domestics. Mrs. Swinton, at this time about eighty years of age, re- 
sided in a house on the second floor in Charles Street, in the immediate 
neighbourhood of George Square ; no person hving in the house with 
her but a favourite maid-servant. The girl became deranged, but her 
symptoms were not of such a violent nature as to alarm her mistress. 
During one Sabbath afternoon, when with her friends in George Square, 
Mrs. Swinton chanced to mention some of her aberrations, and Mrs. 
Scott, alarmed at the idea of her aunt remaining alone with such a 
person, prevailed upon the old lady to allow her cook-maid to sleep in 
the house. About midnight the woman heard the outer door open ; she 
ran thither, and found the maniac ; who pushed her out and violently 
shut the door. The cook succeeded in forcing it open ; upon which 
the mad woman flew at her in a state of ferocious excitement, bit her in 
the shoulder, and threw her down the stair. When she recovered from 
her stupefaction, she again assayed the door, but found it locked ; and 
she now heard the old lady exclaiming, " Oh ! Peggy, you'll no murder 
your mistress !" Mr. Scott's servant ran, all undressed as she was, to 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 35 

her master's house and gave the alarm. The inmates, horrified by this 
wild story, rushed to Charles Street and forced Mrs. Swinton's door. 
They found the old lady mangled and bloody, lying dead on the hearth, 
with a gory coal-axe beside her, and the house on fire. The flames 
were speedily extinguished. It was now found that the depositaries of 
the deceased were broken open, but although every thing was misplaced, 
nothing was missing. The maniac was no where to be seen. It ap- 
peared afterwards, that she had taken a small tea-chest under her arm, 
and walked out with no covering but her chemise. She passed along 
the Potterow, and called to a guardian of the night, who sat half asleep 
in his box, "There is a fire in Charles Street !" He looked up, and 
fainted on beholding the ghastly and gory spectacle. She was next 
seen at the guard-house, in the High street, where she gave a similar 
alarm, but was seized and detained. The maniac was confined for 
life, and the cook continued dangerously ill for a long time. Such an event 
could not fail to lay strong hold on a young mind, and must have lent an 
additional importance to the memory of aunt Margaret and her stories. 

Among those friends whose conversation aided to store the mind of 
the future poet with ideas, Alexander Stewart of Invernahyle must not 
be forgotten. He was a Highland gentleman of good family, and had 
been "out in the forty-five." To judge by some of his expressions 
which the author of Waverley has preserved, we should incline to 
think that he had sat for his picture in the "Pate in Peril" of Red- 
gauntlet. His fondness for relating his "hair-breadth 'scapes," his 
rough, half-jocular expressions, were the same. "I was found with 
the mark of the beast on me in every list, " were his words when 
speaking of the difficulty with which government was induced to grant 
his pardon after the insurrection had been quelled. His adventures 
during that turbulent period were such as did him honour. The ex- 
change of gallantry between Waverley and Colonel Talbot, and the 
concealment of the Baron of Bradwardine, are both incidents borrowed 
from his life. His spirit of enterprise blazed brightly to the last, as 
will appear from the following anecdote, which, to judge by its date, 
must belong to the earlist period of Sir Walter's recollected acquain- 
tance with him, immediately subsequent to his return from Kelso to 
the paternal mansion. 

"Invernahyle chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came 
into the Frith of Forth, and though then an old man, I saw him in 
arms, and heard him exult (to use his own words) m the prospect 
of ' drawing his claymore once more before he died. ' In fact, on 
that memorable occasion, when the capital of Scotland was menaced 
by three trifling sloops or brigs, scarce fit to have sacked a fishing 
village, he was the only man who seemed to propose a plan of re- 



3(5 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

sistance. He offered to the magistrates, if broadswords and dirks 
could be obtained, to find as many Highlanders among the lower 
classes, as would cut off any boat's crew that might be sent into a 
town, full of narrow and winding passages, in which they were like 
to disperse in quest of plunder. I know not if this plan was attend- 
ed to ; I rather think it seemed too hazardous to the constituted au- 
thorities, who might not, even at that time, desire to see arms in High- 
land hands. A steady and powerful west wind settled the matter, by 
sweeping Paul Jones and his vessels out of the Frith." 

The frequent visits of young Walter at the house of liis uncle, Dr. 
Rudierford, professor oi' botany in the University of Edinburgh, and 
eminent for his discoveries in chemistry, brought him in contact with the 
most distinguished scholars of the day. Concerning these visits, a suf- 
ficiently characteristic anecdote is related by Mr. Chambers — we know 
not upon what authority. " His thirst for reading is perhaps not de- 
scribed in sufliciently emphatic terms, even in his own narrative. It 
amounted to an enthusiasm. He was at that time very much in the 
house of his uncle Dr. Rutherford,* and there, even at breakfast, he 
would constantly have a book open by his side, to refer to, while sipping 
his cofl^e, hke his own Oldbuck in the Antiquary. His uncle frequently 
commanded him to lay aside his book while eating, and Walter would 
only ask permission first to read out the paragraph in which he was 
eno-aoed. But this request resembled the miracle of Balmerino's eik in 
conviviality,! and the doctor never could find that his nephew finished 
a paragraph in his life. It may be mentioned that Shakspeare was at 
this period frequently in his hands, and that of all his plays, the Mer- 
chant of Venice was his principal favourite. " 

In his father's house, it would appear from these sketches, young 
Scott found himself transported into a very difterent class of society from 
what he had been accustomed to in Roxburgshire. It was a new world 
opening upon him. But his connection with the simpler, and, as they 
are called, lower classes of society, was not at an end. Voracious for 
stories, he clung to every person who could satisfy his appetite. He 
has embalmed the memory of John M'Kinlay — "an old servant of my 
father's, an excellent old Highlander, without a fault, unless a preference 
to mountain-dew over less potent liquors, be accounted one " — in liis 

* " At the bottom of Hyndford's close, near the Netherbow. " 
t " A way of drinking- a whole night at one bowl, by means of perpetual but al- 
ways partial replenishing. Eik signifies addition, and in this case sometimes 
referred to the sugar, sometimes to tlio liquor, and sometimes, but less frequently, 
to the water. Which of the Lords Balmerino was the inventor of this ingenious 
practice is not recorded. " 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 37 

last introduction to Guy Mannering. A kindly connection too was 
kept up between the various nurses and their respective foster-children, 
it being an observance in the family that each of the former received her 
nursling's old clothes as they were laid aside, for the use of her own 
children. It was by such ties that the more fortunate sons of Adam 
were formerly reminded in Scotland of their duty to their poorer breth- 
ren. Walter's nurse, Lizzy Cranston, (by marriage Mrs. Borthwick,) 
lived in a cottage near the Grange, and used to supply the family with 
eggs. But there is one of those more humble friends of the family, who 
seems worthy to be more particularly introduced to the reader, although, 
as she still survives, delicacy induces us to withhold her name. 

She entered Mr. Scott's house about the year 1779, about the period 
of Walter's return from the country ; and seems to have been intrusted 
with a more special charge of him than the rest of the servants. During 
the first year of his attendance upon the High School he slept with her. 
Although then only a girl of fifteen, she had been educated in the strict- 
ness of the Burgher secession, and was even then so remarkable for a 
pious turn of mind, that on one occasion, when a ball of fire passed 
over Warrender's park, and Walter's young nurse was asked for amid 
the alarm and confusion of the moment, he observed, that " Becky 
would be at her prayers." When Becky left the house in 1784 
on the occasion of her marriage to a respectable citizen, Walter 
officiated as her husband's best man, drank tea with the young folks 
at the house of the bride's mother, and faithfully attended their "kirk- 
ing" both forenoon and afternoon.* In virtue of her slight superiority 
in years, and the high estimation in which she stood with her master 
and mistress, this good woman seems to have assumed something of 
the character of a monitress towards her charge, and to have kept it up 
in after life. Her ultra-presbyterian notions were particularly shocked 
at Walter's relaxation from the strictness of liis father's profession, and 
still more by his ultimate lapse into prelacy. This, and her free habits 
of uttering her opinions, seem to have latterly begotten a degi-ee of cold- 
ness and alienation between them. It may be fanciful, but we think 
that we can trace in this incident the rudiments of the somewhat cari- 
catured picture of Christie Steele, in the Chronicles of the Canongate. 

* "Kirking," the first appearance of a new married pair in church after their 
union. It is incumbent upon the bride's maid and bridegroom's man, (the seconds 
in this protracted duel,) to be in attendance. The "kirking" took place on the 
occasion narrated in the text, in a Methodist Chapel then temporarily occupied by 
the Rev. Dr. Hall, a Burgher clergyman. This worthy gentleman had tied the 
noose matrimonial, and was "much taken with Walter," saith the lady, "and 
had a great work with him afterwards." 



38 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

He had only to heighten the feehngs which Mrs. entertained, by 

attributing their excitation to the libertine Croftangry, and to bestow 
upon his imaginary being a keener temper, and there stood the stern 
repulsive dissenter, her devoted love to her mistress preserved more in- 
tense by hatred to the profligate son, as honey is kept purest in the 
heart of the hard rough oak. It is in this sense that there is truth in 
the often misapprehended assertion, that a poet can only write from feel- 
ing. The same emotions exist originally in every human breast ; it is 
the operation of external circumstances, or of one luxuriant passion 
shooting up and smothering beneath its broad and leafy shade its weaker 
brethren, that creates aberration and crime. The first promptings of 
the emotions which drove astray a Richard III., a Ravaillac, or a Marat, 
may be heard in faint whispers even in the purest breast. The imagi- 
nation of the poet catching at these hints is enabled to enter into the 
feelings of the worst criminal, and thus to evoke his dark and troubled 
spirit again to fret its hour in the shadowy world of liction. 

The mind of Scott was not, however, a mere passive recipient of im- 
pressions, even at the early period of life to which our narrative at pre- 
sent relates. His active fancy was even at this early period struggling 
to recreate and arrange them into a world of his own. He had already 
learned to emulate the story-tellers by whom his boyhood had been 
surrounded. His proficiency in the art will be best told in his own 
words: — "I must refer to a very early period of my life, were I to 
point out my first achievements as a tale-teller — but I believe most of 
my old schoolfellows can yet bear witness that I had a distinguished 
character for that talent, at a time when the applause of my compa- 
nions was my recompense for the disgraces and punishments which 
the future romance-writer incurred for being idle himself, and keep- 
ing others idle, during hours that should have been employed on our 
tasks. The chief enjoyment of my holidays was to escape with a 
chosen friend, who had the same taste with myself, and alternately 
to recite to each other such wild adventures as we were able to de- 
vise. We told each in turn interminable tales of knight-errantry, and 
battles, and enchantments, which were continued from one day to an- 
other as opportunity offered without our ever thinking of bringing them 
to a conclusion. As we observed a strict secrecy on the subject of 
this interview, it acquired all the character of a concealed pleasure, 
and we used to select for the scenes of our indulgence, long walks 
through the solitary and romantic environs of Arthur's Seat, Salisbury 
Crags, Braid Hills, and similar places in the vicinity of Edinburgh; 
and the recollection of these holidays still forms an oasis in the pil- 
grimage which I have to look back upon. " 

Our readers who have been educated at a public school in Scotland, 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 39 

cannot fail to have been engaged in suoh petty warfare as is described 
by Sir Walter in his introduction to the story of Green-Breeks. And 
such of them as may have been tinged in their youth with a shght shade 
of the romantic, heightened by the stolen perusal of works of fiction, 
must remember the delight which they experienced while investing 
their combats with a mock dignity derived from viewing them as repre- 
sentations of the battles they read of in story. Some feeling of this kind 
seems to have suggested to "the future romance-writer" another me- 
dium of giving utterance to his thick-coming fancies ; in the use of which 
his parents seem to have acquiesced with more readiness than their dis- 
like to the theatre would have led us to ancipitate. Walter, with the 
aid of his brothers and sister, and some other young friends, were allow- 
ed to act plays in the dining-room. The household served them for an 
audience, the window-hangings for scenes, and the dresses were doubt- 
less in strict keeping with the rest of the decorations. Walter was the 
best reciter, and took upon him the principal parts. Our informant re- 
members him enacting the part of Richard III. It aflbrds a curious mat- 
ter of conjecture what the boy's feeling might be when repeating the 
lines, — 

" Why I who halt and am mis-shapen thus ! " 

Another of their stock-pieces was Jane Shore, in which Miss Scott re- 
presented the heroine, but Walter's part has not been remembered. 

Both in the long narratives of chivalry interchanged with his confi- 
dant, and in his exertions as manager of theatricals, we recognise the 
unconscious working of those faculties which made the future poet. But 
another circumstance co-operated to give him a bias towards literature. 
Th^ society into which he was introduced at his uncle's house, where, 
as he has himself informed us, he first met with that strange monster, 
a live poet, in the person of Dr. Cartwright, author of "Osmyn and 
Elvira," taught him to feel the value of literary distinction ; and the ex- 
ercises which he was called upon to perform in the rector's class, ren- 
dered him familiar with the notion of composition. That he had collect- 
ed under these auspices a stock of the set phrases which go to constitute 
fine writing, and felt some pride in being able to turn them into a pretty 
sentence, will appear from the following anecdote, which is given on the 
authority of a lady who was present. "At a tea-party in Mr. Scott's 
house, a lady was complaining of the heavy rains that had then recently 
fallen in the Highlands, where she had been on a visit. Walter, upon 
hearing this, looked out from below the table where he had ensconced 
himself upon all-fours, and said, ' That's Caledonia weeping for the po- 
verty of her soil.' " 



40 I'IFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

It was about the same time that he made his first attempt at original 
versification, the fate of whicli he has himself left upon record. " At 
one period of my school-boy days I was so far left to my own desires, 
as to become guilty of verses on a thunder-storm, which were much 
approved of, until a malevolent critic sprung up, in the shape of an apo- 
thecary's blue-buskined wife who afiirmed that my most sweet poetry 
was stolen from an old magazine. I never forgave the imputation, and 
even now I acknowledge some resentment against the poor woman's 
memory. She indeed accused me unjustly, when she said I had stolen 
my brooms ready made ; but as I had, like most premature poets, copied 
ail the words and ideas of which my verses consisted, she was so far 
rio-ht, that there was not an original word or thought in the whole six 
lines. I made one or two faint attempts at verse after I had undergone 
this sort of daw-plucking at the hands of the apothecary's wife, but some 
friend or other always advised me to put my verses in the fire, and like 
Dorax in the play, I submitted, thougli 'with a swelhng heart.' " 

The history of these unfortunate lines, and the lines themselves, have 
been transmitted to us by a friend, whose story we submit to the reader 
in his own words, premising that he says of the anecdote, "its authenti- 
city I can vouch for." "When a boy at school, Walter was one day 
overtaken by a storm of thunder and lightning. His mother, who was 
anxiously expecting him home, was alarmed at his non-appearance, and 
on his return began to reprimand him severely for staying so long out. 
The boy excused liimself, by saying that he had gone into a common- 
stair for shelter, and impressed by the awfulness of the scene around 
him, had written some lines, which he forthwith presented to her. 
Though possessed of little intrinsic merit, they are interesting, as the 
first attempt of the poet." 

"Loud o'er my head when awful thunders roll, 
And vivid lightnings flash from pole to pole ; 
It is thy voice my God which bids them fly, 
Thy voice directs them through the vaulted sky : 
Then let tlie good thy mighty power revere, 
And hardened sinners thy just judgment fear." 

If in his story-telling adventures and theatrical undertakings we re- 
cognise the innate irrepressible Avorkings of the imagination ; in the 
oracle which spoke from beneath the tea-table, and in these sufficiently 
common-place verses, we see the fruits of the cultivation of his powers 
of language by external influences. Every day's experience teaches us 
the possibility of indoctrinating young minds into the use of words. A 
dexterous application of fine phraseology often veils poverty of thought. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 41 

The most empty heads are often the most specious talkers. No won- 
der then that a talent which may be successfully cultivated where neither 
conception nor imagination exists, may be forced to a premature ripe- 
ness in a mind richly endowed with both. His masters could teach 
the boy to speak — we may teach a parrot to do as much — but those 
faculties which give weight and value to words were nature's own, and 
could not be ripened by any art into a precocious and short-lived ma- 
turity. The equable progress of his powers was thus disjointed. 
Imagination and the power of expression go to make up the poet. Both 
existed in the breast of Scott in no common degree of power and in- 
tensity, but his immature imagination had not yet discovered the mode 
in which it was to manifest its creations to others, and his talent for ver- 
bal expression, unwedded as yet to substantial thought, sounded chill 
and hollow. 

Such was the state of his mind at the time when his High School 
career terminated, and he was transferred to the University. His name 
first appears in the College-books in 1783. In the roll of the Humanity 
class, taught by Professor Hill, it is entered in his own hand, " Gaidterus 
Scott." In the roll of the Greek class, taught by Professor Dalzell, the 
spelling is correct. The name is written in a stiff school-boy hand, but 
quite legible. What character he sustained in these classes seems only 
to have escaped the recollection of his co temporaries. Nor is it a mat- 
ter of the slightest consequence. The early age at which boys are ad- 
mitted to our Scotish Universities, and the nature of the studies pursued 
in the junior classes, render the first year of a college life in reality a 
blank in our existence. When Universities were first established in 
this country, they were the only seminaries of instruction. The pupil 
commenced his education there, and it was of consequence that he should 
enter at an early age, and be initiated into the very rudiments of learn- 
ing. But now that so many excellent elementary schools abound every 
where, to persist in admitting children, who were more fitly confined to 
the strict rule of the pedagogue, to the comparatively liberal discipline of 
a college, is the height of absurdity. If old enough for the university, 
the young student has already learned at school all that is taught in the 
junior humanity and Greek classes, and is wasting his time ; if he has 
been taken prematurely from school, he has been emancipated from that 
system of tuition which might have made of him an accurate scholar, in 
order that he may be taught after a more slovenly and inadequate fashion. 

In 1784, " Gaulterus Scott" occurs again in the roll of the second 
Greek class; and " Walter Scott" in that of the Logic class, then taught 
by Professor Bruce. His attendance upon these classes was, however, 
in all probability speedily terminated by the bursting of a blood-vessel, 
and a long tract of bad health, of which that event was the initiative. 

F 



42 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

The interruption thus given to the plan of education which paternal care 
had sketched out for him, and habits acquired during the term of indul- 
gence aflbrded to the invalid, mark the period of his life which ensued 
as entirely distinct from that which we have hitherto been surveying. 
This interruption was, moreover, coincident in point of time with that 
sudden development of the physical constitution, which, productive of a 
new class of feelings, seems often to change the entire character. His 
sickness, which was in all probability an effort of nature to work off the 
dregs of early infirmity, seems almost to have been providentially inter- 
posed to chain him down, and afford him leisure to acquire those habits 
which were to ensure his future eminence. His entrance into animal 
existence was through pain and suffering, and the mental birth was 
destined to be attended with analogous pangs. 

Here then we close that portion of our narrative dedicated to the boy- 
hood of Walter Scott. As the infant gathers its physical strength in 
balmy slumber, " rocked by the beating of its mother's breast," so the 
mind in extreme youth collects its energies while swayed, without ex- 
ertion of its own, hither and thither upon the heaving tide of circum- 
stance. The history of a boy is inore properly that of the persons and 
circumstances among which his lot has been cast. At the most, it is but 
the first feeble struggles of a human being to indicate an independent 
personality, like the flame on the domestic hearth forcing its way in 
brief and transient flashes through the superincumbent load of fuel, or 
Uke the crowing baby, exerting with ecstatic astonishment its newly dis- 
covered power of detaining objects in its grasp. The character of the 
earlier years of the period to which we are next to direct the reader's 
attention, will not differ materially from what we have hitherto been 
contemplating ; but as we advance, the figure of the principal person 
concerned will naturally stand out in bolder relief. It is the attribute of 
mankind to aim at rendering all surrounding objects subordinate to their 
purposes ; and a man is truly great, truly a man, only in so far as he 
attains the object of his wishes ; he is good only in so far as that object 
is commendable. 



(43) 



CHAPTER 11. 

ADOLESCENCE. 1785 1790. 

Almost close upon the commencement of the winter session of 1784- 
85, to borrow the phraseology both of our universities and our courts of 
justice, Walter Scott was subjected to a violent attack of sickness, for 
the only distinct account of which we are indebted to himself. " When 
boyhood," he says, " advancing into youth required more serious stu- 
dies, and graver cares, a long illness threw me back on the kingdom of 
fiction, as it were by a species of fatality. My indisposition arose, in 
part at least, from my having broken a blood-vessel ; and motion and 
speech were for a long time pronounced positively dangerous. For 
several weeks I was confined strictly to my bed, during which time I 
was not allowed to speak above a whisper, to eat more than a spoonful 
or two of boiled rice, or to have more covering than one thin counter- 
pane. When the reader is informed that I was at this time a growing 
youth, with the spirits, appetite, and impatience of fifteen, and sufflsred, 
of course, greatly under this severe regimen, which the repeated return 
of my disorder rendered indispensable, he will not be surprised that I 
was abandoned to my own discretion, so far as reading (my almost sole 
amusement) was concerned, and still less so, that I abused the indul- 
gence which left my time so much at my own disposal. 

" There was at this time a circulating library in Edinburgh, founded, 
I believe, by the celebrated Allan Ramsay, which, besides containing a 
most respectable collection of books of every description, was, as might 
have been expected, pecuharly rich in works of fiction. It exhibited 
specimens of every kind, from the romances of chivalry, and the ponder- 
ous folios of Cyrus and Cassandra, down to the most approved works of 
later times. I was plunged into this great ocean of reading without com- 
pass or pilot ; and unless when some one had the charity to play chess 
with me, I was allowed to do nothing save read, from morning to night. 
I was, in kindness and pity, which was perhaps erroneous, however 
natural, permitted to select my subjects of study at my own pleasure, 
upon the same principle that the humours of children are indulged to 
keep them out of mischief. As my taste and appetite were gratified in 
nothing else, I indemnified myself by becoming a glutton of books. 
Accordingly I believe I read almost all the romances, old plays, and 
epic poetry, in that formidable collection, and no doubt was uncon- 



44 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

sciously amassing materials for the task in which it has been my lot to 
be so mucli employed. 

" At the same lime, I did not in all respects abuse the license permit- 
ted to me. Familiar acquaintance with the specious miracles of fiction 
brought with it some degree of satiety, and I began, by degrees, to seek 
in histories, memou's, voyages, and the like, events nearly as wonderful 
as those which were the work of imagination, with the additional advan- 
tage that they were at least in a great measure true. The lapse of nearly 
two years, during which I was left to the exercise of my own free will, 
was followed by a temporary residence in the country, where I was 
again very lonely, but for the amusement which I derived from a good 
though old-fashioned library. The vague and wild use which I made of 
this advantage, I cannot describe better than by referring my reader to 
the desultory studies of Waverley in a similar situation ; the passages 
concerning whose course of reading were imitated from collections of my 
own." 

In alloting the period of two years to his confinement in town after 
this attack of sickness, Sir Walter must have spoken from a very vague 
recollection ; for although unable to recover precise information respect- 
ing the dates of its commencem.ent and termination, circumstances ena- 
ble us to approximate very closely to them, and the result seems to con- 
fine both the duration of his illness and of his residence in the^country 
considerably within the limits of the time he has mentioned. We find 
his name, as has already been stated, entered in the books of the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh in his own hand, in November 1784, sufficient 
evidence that he was then in good health, and looking forward to a win- 
ter's attendance upon the classes. Next we find the following entry in 
the minute-book of the Society of Writers to the Signet : — " 15th May, 
1786. — Compeared Walter Scott, and presented an indenture, dated 31st 
March last, entered into between him and Walter Scott, his son, for five 
years from the date thereof, under a mutual penalty of .£40 sterling." 
Lastly, we have Sir Walter's own testimony that he met Burns in Edin- 
burgh in the winter of 1786-87. The ascertained dates of subsequent 
events forbid us to assign this illness to a later period of his career ; and 
the certainty of a near relative who still survives, that he paid a long 
visit to the neighbourhood of Kelso during his fourteenth or fifteenth 
year, is an additional circumstance for believing that it occurred at the 
time we have fixed upon. We assume, therefore, that his long confine- 
ment and his subsequent visit to the country, occurred between the close 
of 1784 and some time in 1786. He may have returned to his father's 
house in May, the date of the registry of his indenture, or he may have 
been allowed to remain in the country till the fall of the year, but certain 



I IFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 45 

it is that he was in Edinburgh, and alive and merry, in the winter of 
1786. 

To the list given by Sir Walter of the amusements of his sick-cham- 
ber, the reminiscences of a cotemporary authorise us to add drawing. 
We speak on the authority of an amateur artist, a lady no less conspicuous 
for her early beauty, than for a strong and original cast of mind, an inti- 
mate friend, moreover, of that wayward genius Skirving, when we say 
that Scott's mother was no mean proficient in this elegant accomplish- 
ment. It was natural, therefore, that with the imitative propensities of 
boyhood, he should betake him during the tedious hours of sickness to 
the scratching of flowers on paper. At that early age, however, the real 
sense of art has never been found developed. It is merely the power of 
imitating form or colour with more or less accuracy, and feeling a harm- 
less pride in comparative success. To express beauty through the me- 
dium of counterfeit resemblance of external nature, is a faculty which lies 
dormant till a later period of life. Tliat Sir Walter never, in after-life, 
felt any vocation to the pencil, is one strong ground for believing that 
he was not possessed of this faculty. That he found pleasure in gazing 
upon the creations of art, and in the conversation of eminent artists, is 
undoubted, but in like manner many who have the sense of harmony 
and melody very imperfectly developed, are susceptible of being much 
excited by music. Another ground yet more relevant is a paper which 
he not many years ago communicated to a fashionable annual, in reply 
to a note from the editor, requesting him to point out a subject for the 
engraver. The subject which he does suggest is little adapted for pic- 
torial representation, and the mode of handling still less. The truth is, 
that although the object both of the poet and the painter is to create the 
beautiful, the media of their operations is so different as to require in 
the workman faculties totally distinct, and, to judge by experience, al- 
most incompatible in the human mind ; at least Michael Angelo alone 
seems to have united them. The poet presents us with a thousand rest- 
less and shifting associations, which the mind reviews with rapture as 
they flutter past, and out of which it strives to collect and create an en- 
during image. The painter presents us with one fixed and defined 
image, which pleases, partly by its own loveliness, but more (in most 
minds) by the associations of passion and breathing life which it sug- 
gests. Intense passion is the soul of both creations, but in the one it 
is clothed in a body of palpable visible form, in the other it tenants a 
Proteus-like succession of vague and airy shapes. 

We return from this digression to record the existence of a perishable 
memorial of this period of Scott's life. On a window of the house in 
George Square, at that time inhabited by his father's family, there may 
still be seen the following inscription, scratched with a diamond, in a 



46 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

hand strikingly similar to that which he wrote the last, but with more 
ambitious tails to the capital letters. " Walter Scott — 1785 — ha, who 
art thou ? — Begone." It is perhaps a foolish fancy which connects this 
trifle with the impatience of the tardy convalescent ; but still the name 
and the date lend it an importance which rarely attaches to scrawls upon 
a pane of glass. Such of our readers as are not too old to remember the 
feelings of fifteen, when the impetuosity of young emotion, unable as 
yet to vent itself in deeds or thought, prompts not unfrequently dis- 
jointed exclamations like that above, which, if overheard, bring the red 
blush into the face, and overwhelm with a sense of awkwardness — may 
find even in the disjointed scrawl which we have preserved an index to 
the boy's state of mind. 

No other record of his sick apartment has reached us, and we hasten 
to follow him to Roxburghshire. A brother of his father, Captain Robert 
Scott, had entered the East India Company's naval service in early life, 
and returned to his native country about the year 1784, with a respecta- 
ble competency. In 1785 he purchased from the heirs of a Dr. Jackson 
the small property of Rosebank, in the immediate neighbourhood of 
Kelso. Captain Scott is described by the few who remember him, as 
a pleasant, gentlemanly man, with no small degree of that sturdy pride 
which men of decided character derive from the consciousness of being 
the makers of their own fortunes. He was in the commission of the 
peace, and discharged the duties of a magistrate with strict impartiality. 
He was a keen advocate for a canal at that time projected between Ber- 
wick and Kelso ; and took an active part in the survey made by Mr. 
Telfer the engineer, to serve as the basis of his report on the practica- 
bility of the measure. Captain Scott occupied a good deal of his time 
in improving the property he had purchased, making additions to the 
house, and keeping his garden and ornamental grounds in order. He 
never married ; but installed his sister, our good old friend Miss Jenny, 
into the oflice of housekeeper, and took pleasure in seeing his nephews 
and nieces, and indeed all his friends around him. The scanty notices 
we have been able to collect of this gentleman leave a most favourable 
impression of his character. To the high sense of honour, and clear- 
sighted activity of the sailor, he seems to have united a cordial and 
benevolent disposition. In his taste for agricultural pursuits, and in the 
anxious desire he testified, by settling his estate upon his nephew Wal- 
ter, to keep up his remembrance in the land, we trace the gradual pro- 
gress of honest ambition, from the good grandsire, proud of being the 
most enterprising farmer of his district, through the small laird, to the 
baronial splendour of the master of Abbotsford. The sphere of family 
activity widens as it rolls onward, but a fresh spirit, " tasting of Flora 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 47 

and the country gi-een," breathes bracingly over it through the whole 
career of increasing importance. 

To the house of this gentleman young Walter was sent, in the hope 
that the air and soil which had proved so congenial to his sickly child- 
hood might again re-invigorate him. He. found himself restored to the 
care of his old nurse, " Aunt Jenny," and, in attendance upon her, he 
met again the playmates of his childhood. But he also met with more 
new friends than his uncle. " In early youth," he somewhere says, 
and he alludes to this period of his Ufe, " I resided for a considerable 
time in the vicinity of the beautiful village of Kelso, where my life passed 
in a very solitary manner. I had few acquaintances, scarce any com- 
panions, and books, which were at the time almost essential to my hap- 
piness, were difficult to come by. It was then that I was particularly 
indebted to the liberality and friendship of an old lady of the Society of 
Friends, eminent for her benevolence and charity. Her deceased hus- 
band had been a medical man of eminence, and left her, with other 
valuable property, a small and well-selected library. This the kind old 
lady permitted me to rummage at pleasure, and carry home what volumes 
I chose, on condition that I should take, at the same time, some of the 
tracts printed for encouraging and extending the doctrines of her own 
sect. She did not even exact any assurance that I would read these 
performances, being too justly afraid of involving me in a breach of pro- 
mise, but was merely desirous that I should have the chance of instruc- 
tion within my reach, in case whim, curiosity, or accident, might induce 
me to have recourse to it." 

The lady here painted in such amiable colours was the mother of 

Waldie, Esq. of Henderside, writer in Kelso, one of whose sons, 

Robert, who died young, attended Whale's school in Kelso at the same 
time with Sir Walter. George, another son, who survived his father, and 
succeeded to the property, was the father of the authoress of " Rome in 
the Nineteenth Century," who seems to have inherited much of the 
amiable spirit and high talents of her great grandmother. This venera- 
ble person was always known by the name of " Lady Waldie," a name 
which, when applied by a Scotish peasant to one who has no hereditary 
claim to the title, is no common tribute of respect. It is expressive of 
blended dignity and gentleness, of diffusive benevolence, and purity in 
word and deed in the party thus designated, so genuine and impressive 
as even to breathe their softening influence over the minds of a rough- 
witted, fearless race, more inclined to pass shrewd and caustic remarks 
upon their superiors in wealth and station, than to pay them a slavish 
homage. The character of the Scotish peasant is indeed a strange mix- 
ture of passive obedience with undaunted maintenance of the right of 
private judgment. Scarcely any motive is sufficient to sting him to in- 



48 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

subordination ; but he never attempts to shut his eyes to the worthless- 
ness of those beneath whose lasJi he crouches. He dares to be a tame 
slave, without seeking to reconcile himself to his situation by attributing 
fancied virtues to his master. 

But to return to " Lady AValdie." She was, as her protege narrates 
of her, a member of the Society of Friends, but no bigot to her sect. 
She did not hesitate to attend the parish church. It has indeed been 
handed down to us by tradition, that on one occasion when Mr. Corne- 
lius Lundie (father of the late Mr. R. LuncUe, minister of Kelso) was 
preaching, tlie ipiril moved the good lady, and she spoke ; but whether 
in rebuke or confirmation of the clergyman's doctrine has been forgotten. 
This story, however, is at the best apocryphal, and the testimony of 
those who knew the lady represents her not only as a woman of fervent 
piety and great benevolence, but also as possessed of an unwontedly 
cultivated mind. " She was," says an old lady, whose recollections 
extend back to the days of Scott's boyhood, " she was a great observer 
of the stars and heavenly bodies ; frequently looking at them and talking 
of them. Walter used to say, that 'she was aye looking to heaven.' " 
This little anecdote indicates the rich and susceptible mind of the speaker, 
but it likewise conveys a delightful image of her who could make so 
strong an impression upon him. Mrs. Waldie rises before us as she 
was in life, with her quiet dignity and refinement, her religious enthu- 
siasm, and intellectual romance, her purity of mind, and her demure 
sagacity. 

Scott's craving for books found another source whence to satisfy itself, 
on the well-covered shelves of a circulating library in Kelso, kept by a 
Mr. Elliot. This librarian is still remembered as a polite, formal old 
man, with a well-powdered head. He had that kind of taste which 
does not extend beyond a keen sense of the beauty of orderly arrange- 
ment and neatness, was of a shrewd turn of mind, and spoke plausibly. 
His stock of knowledge, particularly in what regarded antiquarian mat- 
ters, was pretty extensive, and his assortment of books was tolerably 
various. Both the man and his establishment possessed a strong power 
of attraction for the convalescent. 

A passage in an " Essay on Imitations of the Ancient Ballad," pre- 
fixed to the third volume of the " Minstrelsy of the Scotish Border," 
inclines us to refer to the period of the author's first visit to his uncle 
Robert, his introduction to the collections of the Bishop of Drumore. 
" In early youth I had been an eager student of ballad poetry, and the 
tree is still in my recollection, beneath which I lay and first entered 
upon the enchanting perusal of Percy's ' Reliques of Ancient Poetry,' 
although it has long perished in the general blight which afi'ected the 
whole race of oriental platanus to which it belonged." The thread of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 49 

association is, we confess, but slender, being nothing stronger than the 
similarity in point of sentiment between the landscape conjured up by 
these words, and the fair and fertile environs of Kelso. Several allu- 
sions, however, scattered through Scott's writings, tend to confirm us 
in the opinion that it is to a time closely bordering on that of his indis- 
position that we are to refer his first acquaintance with Percy's book. 

The perusal of that work, originally published in 1765, by giving 
him a taste for ballad literature, naturally led him on to the kindred pub- 
lications of Herd and Evans. Herd, " an accountant, as the profession 
is called in Edinburgh, was known and generally esteemed for his 
shrewd, manly common sense and antiquarian science, mixed with 
much good nature and great modesty. His hardy and antique mould 
of countenance, and his venerable grizzled locks, procured him amongst 
his acquaintance the name of Greysteil." His collection was an at- 
tempt to do for Scotish what the bishop had accomplished for English 
traditional song. Evans' work, in which some poems of modern date 
were intermingled with the old ballads, appeared originally in 1777, 
and afterwards, considerably enlarged, in 1784. " This collection con- 
tained," says Sir Walter, " several modern pieces of great merit, which 
are not to be found elsewhere, and which are understood to be the pro- 
duction of William Julius Mickle, translator of the Lusiad, though they 
were never claimed by him, nor received among his works." Turning 
to the last edition of Kenilworth, we find in the preface the following 
passage : — " There is a period in youth when the mere power of num- 
bers has a more strong eflect on ear and imagination, than in more ad- 
vanced life. At this season of immature taste, the author was greatly 
delighted with the poems of Mickle and Langhorne, — poets who, though 
by no means deficient in the higher branches of their art, were eminent 
for their powers of verbal melody above most who have practised this 
department of poetry. One of those pieces of Mickle, which the author 
was particularly pleased Avith, is a ballad, or rather a species of elegy, 
on the subject of Cumnor Hall, which, with others by the same author, 
were to be found in ' Evans' Ancient Ballads,' to which work Mickle 
made liberal contributions. The first stanza,* especially, had a pecu- 
liar species of enchantment for the youthful ear of the author, the force 
of which is not even now entirely spent ; some others are sufficiently 
prosaic." We find Sir Walter referring his acquaintance with the po- 
etry of Langhorne and Mickle to the same period ; we find him mention- 

* " The dews of summer night did fall ; 
The moon, sweet regent of the sky, 
Silver'd the walls of Cumnor Hall, 

And many an oak that grew thereby." 
G 



50 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

ing as one of his first loves the ballad of Cumnor Hall, which only ap- 
peared in Evans' second edition ; and we know from the account he 
has given of his interview with Burns, that he was familiar with the 
writings of Langhorne in 1786. This chain of circumstances, although 
not drawn sufficiently to establish conviction, points with tolerable per- 
tinacity to the conjecture we have hazarded above. 

It has already been remarked, that the precise period of Scott's re- 
turn from Rosebank, to enter upon the duties of a writer's clerk, has 
not been ascertained. The date of the registry of his indenture cannot 
satisfactorily enable us to make any approximation, for it may have 
been eflected with a prospective view to his commencing them as soon 
as his return should be deemed expedient. Certain, however, it is, that 
he passed the winter 1786-87 in Edinburgh, as sufficiendy appears from 
the account given by himself in a letter to his son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart, 
of an important era in his life — his interview with Burns. 

" As for Burns, I may tndy say, Virgilium vidi tanlum. I was a 
lad of fifteen in 1786-7, when he came first to Edinburgh, but had sense 
and feeling enough to be much interested in his poetry, and would have 
given the world to know him ; but I had very little acquaintance with 
any literary people, and still less with the gentry of the Avest country, 
the two sets that he most frequented. Mr. Thomas Grierson was at 
that time a clerk of my father's. He knew Burns, and promised to 
ask him to his lodgings to dinner, but had no opportunity to keep his 
word ; otherwise I might have seen more of this distinguished man. As 
it was, 1 saw him one day at the late venerable Professor Ferguson's, 
where there were several gentlemen of literary reputation, among whom 
I remember the celebrated Mr. Dugald Stewart. Of course we young- 
sters sate silent, looked and listened. The only thing I remember 
which was remarkable in Burns' manner, was the effect produced upon 
him by a print of Bunbury's, representing a soldier lying dead on the 
snow, his dog sitting in misery on the one side, on the other his widow, 
with a child in her arms. These lines were written beneath, — 

' Cold on Canadian hills, or Minden's plain. 
Perhaps that parent wept her soldier slain — 
Bent o'er her babe, her eye dissolved in dew ; 
The big drops, mingling with the milk he drew. 
Gave the sad presage of his future years. 
The child of misery baptised in tears.' 

" Burns seemed much affected by the print, or rather the ideas which 
it suggested to his mind. He actually shed tears. He asked whose 
the lines were, and it chanced that nobody but myself remembered that 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 51 

they occur in a half-forgotten poem of Langhorne's, called by the un- 
promising title of ' The Justice of the Peace,' I whispered my in- 
formation to a friend present, who mentioned it to Burns, who rewarded 
me with a look and a word, which, though of mere civility, I then re- 
ceived and still recollect with very gi-eat pleasure. 

" His person was strong and robust : his manners rustic, not clown- 
ish ; a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity, which received part of 
its effect perhaps from one's knowledge of his extraordinary talents. 
His features are represented in Mr. Nasmyth's picture, but to me it 
conveys the idea that they are diminished as if seen in perspective. I 
think his countenance was more massive than it looks in any of the 
portraits. I would have taken the poet, had I not known what he was, 
for a very sagacious country farmer of the old Scotish school, i. e. none 
of your modern agriculturists, who keep labourers for their drudgery, 
but the douce gudonan who held his own plough. There was a strong 
expression of sense and shrewdness in all his lineaments ; the eye alone 
I think indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large 
and of a dark cast, and glowed, (I say literally glowed,) when he spoke 
with feeling or interest. I never saw such another eye in a human head, 
though I have seen the most distinguished men in my time. His con- 
versation expressed perfect self-confidence, without the slightest pre- 
sumption. Among the men who were the most learned of their time 
and country, he expressed himself with perfect firmness, but without 
the least intrusive forwardness ; and when he differed in opinion, he did 
not hesitate to express it firmly, yet at the same time with modesty. I 
do not remember any part of his conversation distinctly enough to be 
quoted, nor did I ever see him again, except in the street, where he did 
not recognise me, as I could not expect he should. He was much ca- 
ressed in Edinburgh, but (considering what literary emoluments have 
been since his day) the efforts made for his relief were extremely trifling. 

" I remember on this occasion I mention, I thought Burns' acquaint- 
ance with English poetry was rather Umited, and also, that having twenty 
times the abiUties of Allan Ramsay and of Ferguson, he talked of them 
with too much humility as his model ; there was doubtless national pre- 
dilection in his estimate," 

The lad who could be so deeply impressed with the appearance of 
Burns in one interview, as to retain, after an interval of forty years, 
such a vivid picture of his outer man, and who was widely enough read 
to detect the comparatively limited extent of Burns' reading, and who 
was already capable of feeling his superiority to Ramsay and Ferguson, 
had outgrown the years of boyhood. His mind was rapidly advancing 
towards maturity. Nor were his poetical exercises continued upon so 
limited a scale, as his words, " I made one or two faint attempts at 



52 IJFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

verse," would lead us to suppose. A gendeman who about this time 
was in habits of daily and familiar intercourse Avith him, remembers 
being shown a poem which he had composed on the " Conquest of 
Granada." It extended to four books, each containing about four hun- 
dred lines. This production he burned very soon after it was finished. 
Our informant proceeds : — He told extempore, and most fluently, admira- 
ble stories of his own invention. He was also most ready with extem- 
pore poetry, or at least rhymes. In fact, he could almost have con- 
versed in rhyme." 

It must have been close upon the event we have just recorded, that 
the " suspended animation," adverted to in the following sentence, stole 
over his rhyming powers. " In short, excepting the usual tribute to a 
mistress's eyebrow, which is the language of passion rather than poetry, 
I had not for ten years indulged the wish to couple so much as love and 
dove, when finding Lewis in possession of so much reputation, and con- 
ceiving that if I fell behind him in poetical powers, I considerably ex- 
ceeded him in general information, I suddenly took it into my head to 
attempt the style by which he had raised himself to fame." The 
" Monk" was published in 1795, and as the burning of " The Conquest 
of Granada" happened in 1786, there is no space left for any subsequent 
attempts. With one exception, which will fall to be noticed hereafter, 
we have no indications of the turn which his studies now took, till we 
find him attending Dugald Stewart's lectures on Moral Philosophy in 
the year 1790. There are two circumstances, however, which enable 
us to give a shrewd guess at their character. In 1786, we find him 
busied with Percy, Evans, and Herd. Owing to the hot controversy 
which arose between the first-named author and Ritson, the amateurs of 
old ballad poetry were led to plunge deeper than they at first expected 
into philological and antiquarian discussions. When we again recover 
the thread of Scott's studies in 1790, we find him uncommonly well 
versed in northern antiquities. " Putting that to that," as the old wives 
say, there can remain little doubt as to the nature of his favourite pur- 
suits during the interval. 

Such readers as have at any time known experimentally the seductive 
and engrossing nature of antiquarian research, (study we can scarcely 
call it,) in which the mind wanders on from ratiocination to lazy con- 
templation of picturesque images, hovering as it were on the verge of the 
regions of stern thought and pleasant dreams, sufficiently active to escape 
ennui, sufliciently indolent to escape fatigue, will agree with us that 
reminiscences of his own ofiicial delinquencies suggested in all proba- 
bility the description of the legal studies of the laird of Monkbarns. 

" He was then put apprentice to the profession of a writer, or attor- 
ney, in which he profited so far, that he made himself master of the 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 53 

whole forms of feudal investitures, and showed such pleasure in recon- 
ciling their incongruities, and tracing their origin, that his master had 
great hope he would one day be an able conveyancer. But he halted 
upon the threshold, and, though he acquired some knowledge of the 
origin and system of the law of his country, he could never be persuaded 
to apply it to lucrative and practical purposes. It was not from any 
inconsiderate neglect of the advantages attending the possession of mo- 
ney that he thus deceived the hopes of his master. ' Were he thought- 
less or light-headed, or rei suce. prodigus,^ said his instaictor, 'I would 
know what to make of him. But he never pays away a shilling with- 
out looking anxiously after the change, makes his sixpence go farther 
than another lad's half-crown, and will ponder over an old black-letter 
copy of the acts of parliament for days, rather than go to the golf or the 
change-house ; and yet he will not bestow one of those days on a little 
business of routine, that would put twenty shillings in his pocket — a 
strange mixture of frugality and industry, and negligent indolence, — I 
don't know what to make of him.' " 

We suspect, however, that although his father might find him as way- 
ward and unaccountable as Oldbuck, in respect to his ai-dent scrutiny 
into the antiquities and outre twistings of the law, and his aversion to 
all practical application of his knowledge, the resemblance stopped here. 
He had no dislike to amusements, either sedentary or active, nor any 
peculiar knack at making his money go farther than that of other people. 
He never acted regularly either as clerk or apprentice. A gentleman 
who was one of Mr. Scott's clerks during the period of Walter's nomi- 
nal apprenticeship, assures us, that they had many a tough bout at chess 
in the office. " Mair by token," they were frequently interrupted by 
the inopportune entrance of the old gentleman ; when pop, crash, down 
went chess-board and men into the desk, and the two delinquents as- 
sumed as grave and business-like a deportment as their trepidation Avould 
admit of. 

That young Scott was allowed so much freedom, while under the 
surveillance of so strict a disciplinarian as his father, was in all proba- 
bility owing to his recent delicate state of health. Parental anxiety 
would be naturally distrustful of apparently robust and florid health, in 
one who had suflTered so much and so long; and as a necessary conse- 
quence, the supposed invalid would be allowed and encouraged to de- 
vote more time to exercise in the open air, than he would have other- 
wise been allowed to steal from the writing-desk. The consequence of 
such indulgence has been told by himself: — " Since my fourteenth or 
fifteenth year, my health, originally delicate, had been extremely robust. 
From infancy, I had laboured under the infirmity of a severe lameness, 
but, as I believe is usually the case with men of spirit who suffer under 



54 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

personal inconveniences of this nature, I had, since the improvement of 
my health, in defiance of this incapacitating circumstance, distinguished 
myself by the endurance of toil on foot or horseback, having often 
walked thirty miles a day, and rode upwards of a hundred without stop- 
ping. In this manner, I made many pleasant journeys through parts of 
the country then not very accessible, gaining more amusement and in- 
struction than I have been able to acquire since I have traveled in a more 
commodious manner. I practised most sylvan sports also, with some 
success and with great delight." 

Our information respecting his country rambles, during the period of 
which we are at present narrating the history, i. e. previous to the year 
1796, is extremely limited. We learn from his surviving relations, that 
he was in the habit of paying a visit of some length to his uncle. Cap- 
tain Scott, every autunm. He used also at this time to pay an annual 
visit to the Highlands; and a gentleman, who was then in his father's 
office, remembers that he was frequentlj^ absent on minor excursions. 

The Highlands aftbrded him a new field of observation ; — a field at 
that time more congenial to his natural and acquired sympathies, than 
they could have done if in their present state. He has left it on record, 
in his Introduction to the first series of the Chronicles of the Canongate, 
that Alexander Stewart of Invernahyle was the friend who first intro- 
duced him to this district of his native land. And in the second series 
of the same work, he has favoured us with a description of his feelings 
when Perth first burst upon his view, from the Wicks of Baiglie, on the 
occasion of his first trip to the north. " Childish wonder, indeed, was 
an ingredient in my delight, for I was not above fifteen years old, and as 
this had been the first excursion which I was permitted to make on a 
pony of my own, I also experienced the glow of independence, mingled 
with that degree of anxiety Avhich the most conceited boy feels when he 
is first abandoned to his own undirected councils. I recollect pulling up 
the reins without meaning to do so, and gazing on the scene before me, 
as if I had been afraid it would shift like those in a theatre, before I could 
distinctly observe its diff'erent parts, or convince myself that what I saw 
was real. Since that hour, and the period is now more than fifty years 
past, the recollection of that inimitable landscape has possessed the 
strongest influence over my mind, and retained its place as a memorable 
thing, when much that was influential on my own fortunes has fled from 
my recollection." 

At the abode of Mr. Stewart, he likewise found much that was calcu- 
lated to make an enduring impression upon his mind. There was the 
worthy old gentleman himself, such as we have attempted to describe 
him above, with all his clannish and Jacobitical predilecUons. There 
was the cave where Invernahyle had lain concealed after the battle of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 55 

Culloden, so near the sentinels placed by the English troops who gar- 
risoned his house that he could hear their muster-roll called. There 
were all the associations connected with one who had been out both in 
1715 and 1745, and been deeply engaged in all the intrigues which filled 
up the space between these two memorable years ; nay, who had even 
fought a broad-sword duel with Eob Roy. There was, too, Inverna- 
hyle's miller, "a grim-looking old Highlander," the same who was 
about to cleave Colonel Whitetbord with his Lochaber axe, when his 
master interfered; an incident which suggested an important part of the 
story of Waverley, In short, the wild and striking scenery of the dis- 
trict was inhabited by a people whose dress, language, manners, and 
actual history realised those legends upon which his boyish imagination 
had so fondly dwelt. 

That Scott was on a subsequent occasion carried deeper into the re- 
cesses of the Highlands, seems likewise to have been caused more or 
less remotely by his family's connections with Invernahyle. The sum 
of 1000/. being the whole or part of Mrs. Scott's portion, had been lent 
upon a personal bond to Ste^vart of Appin, Invernahyle' s chief and 
brother-in-law, and subsequently transformed into a burden on his estate 
in due form of law. The sequel of the story will be best narrated in 
Scott's own words, 

" There were very considerable debts due by Stewart of Appin, (chiefly 
to the author's family,) which were likely to be lost to the creditors, if 
they could not be made available out of the farm of Invernenty, the 
scene of the murder done upon MacLaren by the son of Rob Roy." 

" His family, consisting of several strapping deer-stalkers, still pos- 
sessed the farm, by virtue of a long lease for a trifling rent. There was 
no chance of any one buying it wiih such an encumbrance, and a trans- 
action was entered into by the MacLarens, who, being desirous to emi- 
grate to America, agreed to sell their lease to the creditors of 500/., and 
to remove at the next term of Whitsunday. But whether they repented 
their bargain, or desired to make a better, or whether from a mere point 
of honour, the MacLarens declared they would not permit a summons 
of removal to be executed against them, which was necessary for the 
legal completion of the bargain. And such was the general impressioa 
that they were men capable of resisting the legal execution of warning^ 
by very effectual means, no king's messenger would execute the sum- 
mons without the support of a military force. An escort of a Serjeant 
and six men was obtained from a Highland regiment lying in Stirling, 
and the author, then a writer's apprentice, equivalent to the honourable 
situation of an attorney's clerk, was invested with the superintendence 
of the expedition, with directions to see that the messenger discharged 
his duty fully, and that the gallant serjeant did not exceed his part by 



56 I'IFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

committing violence or plunder. And thus it happened, oddly enough, 
that the author first entered the romantic scenery of Loch Kati-ine, of 
which he may perhaps say he has somewhat extended the reputation, 
riding in all the dignity of danger, with a front and rear guard, and loaded 
arms. The serjeant was absolutely a Highland Serjeant Kite, full of 
stories of Rob Roy and of himself, and a very good companion. We 
experienced no interruption whatever, and when we came to Invernenty, 
found the house deserted. We took up our quarters for the night, and 
used some of the victuals which we found there. On the morning we 
returned as unmolested as we came. The MacLarens, who probably 
never thought of any serious opposition, received their money and went 
to America, where, having had some slight share in removing them from 
their paupei-a regna, I sincerely hope they prospered." 

In addition to Invernahyle's hospitable mansion, he was in these days 
a welcome visiter in the house of Mr. Edmonstone of Newton, to whom 
also he was in the habit of paying a yearly visit. The seat of the Ed- 
monstone family is in the immediate vicinity of Doune Castle, one of 
the localities which figure in Waverley. The only allusion made by 
Sir Walter himself to this intimacy occurs in one of the notes attached 
to the last edition of the novel we have just mentioned. " This noble 
ruin is dear to my recollection, from associations which have been long 
and painfully broken." It is to these various visits that Sir Walter 
somewhere attributes the occurrence of so much " bad Gaelic," (so he 
is pleased to term it,) in his novels. It certainly does not appear, that 
with all his enthusiasm in behalf of the Gael, and all his researches into 
their manners and superstitions, he ever obtained a thorough knowledge 
of their language. His most intimate acquaintance with it never seems 
to have exceeded the power of quoting a few brocards, much after the 
fashion in which poor Burns paraded his half-a-dozen French phrases. 

Scott's excursions to the south of Edinburgh, subsequent to his ill- 
ness, and previous to the time when he was called to the bar, have been 
still more indistinctly remembered. They were the every-day occur- 
rences to which he had been accustomed from infancy ; they wanted the 
freshness and sharpness of scenery and manners to which he was intro- 
duced for the first time, and their memory became insensibly blended 
and confused with the events of after-years. The same cause has ren- 
dered the memory of his companions less accurate also ; and thus we 
have been able to recover only two anecdotes of his adventures in Rox- 
burghshire which can with any degree of certainty be referred to this 
period. Even of these the exact date is unattainable. 

On one occasion, when on the eve of his departure for Roxburghshire, 
he called, like a dutiful nephew, upon his aunt. Miss Scott, who hap- 
pened to be residing in Edinburgh at the time, to inquire whether she 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 67 

had any commissions from the country. He was solemnly invited to 
tea, and informed that she had something which she wished to intrust to 
his care. When he took his leave in the evenmg, a nondescript parcel 
of a tolerable size was delivered to him with great formality, and many 
strict injunctions to look to its safety. " Tak' care o't, Wattie,for there's 
siller in't." The bearer Avas considerably teased, while on the road, by 
the incessant rattling and jingling which his charge kept up in his pocket, 
sorely to the annoyance of his poney. On reaching his journey's end, 
he hastened to deliver it to the blacksmith of the village, to whom it was 
addressed ; intimating at the same time that he felt great curiosity to 
know the contents of the parcel, and adding, that he supposed from the 
sound and weight it must be Miss Scott's pose. " Deed, it's just ane 
o' your aunty's pattens, and tippence to mend it," was Burn-the-tvin's 
reply. 

The other adventure to which we referred above is of more conse- 
quence, and paints the active benevolence of the young man in a very 
amiable light ; but unfortunately it has reached us in a very imperfect 
state. The authority, however, from which we have it is beyond sus- 
picion ; and on this account we have judged it for the best to preserve 
the incident, in the hopes that some future biographer may be enabled 
to complete our imperfect story. A gentleman who resided at some 
distance from Rosebank had unfortunately been involved in a tedious 
litigation, which terminated in a caption being issued against him. He 
was at the time an invalid and bed-rid, but his adversaries were never- 
theless determined to enforce the rigour of the law. This resolution 
reached the ears of Scott a few hours before the time appointed for put- 
ting it into execution ; and he, without a moment's delay, mounted and 
rode off to give the alarm. An eye-witness remembers him approaching 
the house of the invalid at a furious pace, his horse foaming, and his 
face flushed — both nearly blown. " Mount, mount for your life," he 
cried as he approached the house. His tale was soon told ; the invalid, 
wrapped in blankets, was hurried into a vehicle of some sort, and con- 
veyed to Edinburgh, where matters were arranged after some fashion or 
another. The narrator of this (not very distinct) anecdote, speaks of 
Scott's conduct in terms so warm as to convince us that the service ren- 
dered on the occasion must have been an important one. Few readers 
will fail to trace in the incident a certain degree of similarity to the 
death-scene of the laird of Ellangowan ; an association which, in con- 
nection with the following passage from the preface to Guy Mannering, 
may help to guide some future and more fortunate investigator to all the 
particulars of the story. The narrative which we are about to quote is 
prefaced by the information, that " for particular reasons it must be ex- 
pressed very generally." 



58 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 

" Such a preceptor as Mr. Sampson is supposed to have been, was 
actually tutor in the family of a gentleman of considerable property. 
The young lads, h'^ pupils, grew up and Avent out in the world, but the 
tutor continued to reside in the family, no uncommon circumstance in 
Scotland, (in foniier days,) where food and shelter were readily afforded 
to humble friends and dependants. The laird's predecessors had been 
imprudent ; he himself was passive and unfortunate. Death swept away 
his sons, whose success in life nught have balanced his own bad luck 
and incapacity. Debts increased and funds diminished, till ruin came. 
The estate was sold ; and tlie old man was about to remove from the 
house of his fathers, to go he knew not whither, when, like an old 
piece of furniture, which, left alone in its wonted corner, may hold to- 
gether for a long while, but breaks to pieces on an attempt to move it, 
he fell down on his own threshold under a paralytic affection. 

" The tutor awakened as from a dream. He saw his patron dead, 
and that his patron's only remaining child, now neither graceful nor 
beautiful, if she had been ever either the one or the other, had by this 
calamity become a harmless and penniless orphan. He addressed her 
nearly in the words which Dominie Sampson uses to Miss Bertram, 
and professed his determination not to leave her. Accordingly, roused 
to the exercise of talents which had long slumbered, he opened a little 
school, and supported his pati'on's child for the rest of her life, treating 
her with the same humble observance and devoted attention which he 
had used to her in the days of her prosperity." " Such," the author 
justly adds, " is the outline of Dominie Sampson's story, in which there 
is neither romantic incident nor sentimental passion; but which, per- 
haps, from the rectitude and simplicity of character it displays, may 
interest the heart and fill the eye of the reader as irresistibly as if it re- 
spected distresses of a more dignified and refined character." 

While Scott was thus living on Avithout any understood or definite 
aim, now paying a nominal attention to the business of the office, and 
again strengthening his body by exercise which few men could endure ; 
at one time adding to his stores of antiquarian and other knowledge, sim- 
ply because of the pleasure he took in their acquisition, at another un- 
consciously storing his mind with ideas from the homely and sturdy life 
of the borderers, or from the wildness of the Highlanders ; an event oc- 
curred which was destined ultimately to have a strong influence upon 
the development of his powers. The advance which Scotland had 
hitherto made in literature lagged far behind her giant strides in science. 
Black had caught up the scent after which the continental chemists had 
been long busily puzzling, and the Scots were keeping abreast of the 
strongest and fleetest of .tlieir neighbours, in the full cry which now 
rushed along the true path of discovery. MacLaurin and Playfair had 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 59 

illustrated the name of their country in the department of mathematical 
and physical science. Smith had given birth to a new branch of know- 
ledge ; for while his predecessors had been narrowed and misled in their 
investigations by continually keeping taxation in viev\^, as the ultimate 
problem to be solved, he had abandoned himself to the scrutiny of the 
laws of nature untrammeled by conventional institutions, and had la- 
boured to ascertahi the laws which regulate the origin and distribution 
of wealth. Hume, the most original and profound of that race of mas- 
culine and unaffected thinkers, \vho laid deep and broad the foundations 
of Scotish intellectual fame, although misunderstood and ill appreciated, 
loaded with eulogy for his merely ornamental works, while his sublime 
metaphysical investigations were scorned and neglected, had laid the 
foundations of two widely differing systems of philosophy, — the Scotish 
of Reid and Stewart, the German of Kant. The minor departments 
and accessory investigations attached to those sciences, and all the prac- 
tical branches of knowledge, medicine in particular, were filled with 
zealous, active, and intelligent labourers. 

But although science had attained this high eminence, literature con- 
tinued but a puny hot-house plant, throwing out tendrils beautiful and 
delicate, but deficient both in stamina and power. Smollet and Thom- 
•son had expatriated themselves, and could scarcely be regarded as Scot- 
ish literati. Ramsay had left but one enduring work behind him, — his 
Gentle Shepherd. Home's Douglas was beautiful, but cold and evanes- 
cent as the frost-spray that gems the boughs and twigs of a leafless tree 
in winter. Beattie's Minstrel, although it can only be characterised as 
sweet and tender, has a gentle loveliness which cannot fail to ensure it 
a much longer race of existence than has awaited what were commonly 
called (by courtesy) his philosophical writings. Mackenzie had touched 
some strings of the human heart with a delicate and skilful hand, but his 
essays reminded too much of Addison, his fictitious narrative of Sterne, 
to allow him to rank as an original imaginative author. Bums had al- 
ready published some of his best works, but he stood alone, without 
sympathy or connection with the then existing literature of his country. 
The value of his poems was not then understood, the influence of his 
master mind had not yet been felt. He was looked down upon by the 
elegant scholars of the day with graceful sentiments of condescending 
superiority, wondering much that the language of the vulgar could be 
made the vehicle of poetry, and wondering still more that a ploughman 
should be able to speak and think, to use the language of Captain Boba- 
dil, " almost or altogether as well as themselves." 

We have named the whole of the Scotish authors of fiction who, at 
the period to which our narrative at present relates, were or had been 
in existence, and are likely to endure. The cold idealess epics of Wil- 



60 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

kie, and the jangling of the numerous ballad-mongers who, called into 
existence by the success of Burns, thought the power of rhyming and 
the use of the Scotish dialect sufficient to ensure their success, may 
surely be passed over in silence. In England likewise the spirit of po- 
etry seemed to be on the eve of dying out. The public attention directed 
to our old ballad poetry, instead of re-inspiring a healthy sense of the 
beauties of nature, had only directed the minds of men into a train of la- 
borious antiquarian trilling. Some external inlluence was evidently ne- 
cessary to rouse and re-invigorate the dormant imagination of the nation. 

That impulse was given by the young and fervid, although in many 
instances fantastic literatui-e of Germany, The fire Avhich the authors 
of that country had caught from Shakspeare, they were destined to com- 
municate again to the land of his birth, even as the writings of him and 
his contemporaries had borne in upon their darkness the torch which 
had been lighted at the pile kindled by Luther. Thus it would seem 
that the collective intellect of the world is, as it were, a chain along 
which the electric fire of thought runs in repeated revolutions. It would 
be diverging from our proper object to follow out in detail the progress 
of German literature in the affections of the British public. It must 
suffice to remark, that its more coarse and exaggerated portions — those 
works which addressed themselves more strongly to the sensual than 
to the purely imaginative portion of our nature — tales of sorcery and 
diablerie, of morbid and exaggerated passion ; in short the Robbers of 
Schiller, the Werther of Goethe, and the Poems of Burger, and the 
Dramas of Kotzebue, were the first to find acceptance. The torpid 
palate could only be stimulated by brandy. By degrees, however, a 
taste for the nobler and purer productions of Germany gained a footing 
in some quarters. The works of Goethe's and Schiller's matured genius, 
the writings of Klopstock and Lessing, were studied and appreciated, 
at least by a select few, and some were found who even ventured to 
"go far sounding on their perilous way," through the inmost recesses 
of Kant's gigantic abstractions. When we have added to these indica- 
tions this single remark, that the peculiar habits of thought indulged in 
by Coleridge and Wordsworth, men who more than any others have 
stamped their characters upon this age's literature, bold and original 
though they be, may be traced in the fountain to an intimate acquaint- 
ance with the literature and philosophy, we relinquish all further pursuit 
of the general inquiry, and restrict ourselves to oiu: more immediate 
object. 

The literary intercourse between Edinburgh and London was, at the 
time we speak of, comparatively limited. The progress of German 
literature in the former capital may therefore be traced apart. It fell to 
the lot of Henry Mackenzie first to direct the attention of his country- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 61 

men to his new-found treasure. His acquaintance with the writers of 
Germany was very limited, and, what was worse, obtained through the 
medium of very imperfect French translations. Modesty, however, 
was never the besetting sin of a Scotish critic, so he coolly adventured, 
in a sitting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which was held on the 
21st of April 1788, to propound, in a formal essay, his opinion of "The 
German Theatre." It would be waste of time to recur to a judgment 
based upon such inadequate knowledge for any useful information. It 
would be invidious to resuscitate a work so long allowed to slumber in 
oblivion, merely for the sake of pointing out its defects ; the more so 
that to it we are indebted for a highly beneficial direction of the public 
mind. Enough that the novelty of the information it contained served 
to excite, and its surpassing elegance to concihate. " Germany," he 
remarked, " in her literary aspect, presents herself to observation in a 
singular point of view ; that of a country arrived at maturity, along with 
the neighbouring nations, in the arts and sciences, in the pleasures and 
refinements of manners, and yet only in its infancy with regard to 
writings of taste and imagination. This last path, however, from these 
very circumstances, she pursues with an enthusiasm which no other 
situation could perhaps have produced, the enthusiasm which novelty 
inspires, and which the servility incident to a more cultivated and criti- 
cal state of literature does not restrain." Thus did the most successful 
cultivator among his cotemporaries of a style of literature such as he has 
described in these last words, become the herald of the ascendancy of 
the antagonist principle. His essay had, and was calculated to have a 
powerful eflect. Its more immediate working, as far as it concerned 
Scott, is thus narrated by himself. 

" In Edinburgh, where the remarkable coincidence between the Ger- 
man language and that of the Lowland Scotish, encouraged younf men 
to approach this newly discovered spring of literature, a class was 
formed of six or seven intimate friends, who proposed to make them- 
selves acquainted with the German language. They were in the habit 
of living much together, and the time they spent in this new study was 
felt as a period of great amusement. One source of this diversion was 
the laziness of one of their number, the present author, who, averse to 
the necessary toil of grammar and its rules, was in the practice of fighting 
his way to the knowledge of the German by his acquaintance with the 
Scotish and Anglo-Saxon dialects, and, of course, frequendy committed 
blunders which were not lost upon his more accurate and more studious 
companions. A more general source of amusement was the despair of 
the teacher, on finding it impossible to extract from his Scotish students 
the degree of sensibility necessary, as he thought, to enjoy the beauties 
of the author, to whom he considered it proper first to introduce them. 



62 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

We were desirous to penetrate at once into the recesses of the Teutonic 
literature, and were ambitious of perusing Goethe and Schiller, and 
others whose fame had been sounded by Mackenzie. Dr. Willich, (a 
medical genUeman,) who was our teacher, was judiciously disposed to 
commence our studies with the more simple diction of Gessner, and pre- 
scribed to us ' The death of Abel,' as the production from which our 
German tasks were to be drawn. The pietistic style of this author was 
ill adapted to attract young persons of our age and disposition. We 
could no more sympathise with the overstrained sentimentality of Adam 
and his family, than we could have had a feeling for the jolly Faun of 
the same author, who broke his beautiful jug, and then made a song on 
it which might have moved all Staffordshire. To sum up the distresses 
of Dr. Willich, we, with one consent, voted Abel an insufferable bore, 
and gave the pre-eminence, in pomt of masculine character, to his brother 
Cain, or even to Lucifer himself. When these jests, which arose out 
of the sickly monotony and affected ecstasies of the poet, failed to amuse 
us, we had for our entertainment the unutterable sounds manufactured 
by a Frenchman, our fellow-student, who, with the economical purpose 
of learning two languages at once, was endeavouring to acquire German, 
of which he knew nothing, by English, concerning which he was nearly 
as iffiaorant. Heaven only knows the notes which he uttered, in at- 
tempting, with unpractised organs, to imitate the gutturals of these two 
untractable languages. At length in the midst of much laughing and 
little study, most of us acquired some knowledge, more or less exten- 
sive, of the German language, and selected for ourselves, some in the 
philosophy of Kant, some in the more animated works of the German 
dramatists, specimens more to our taste than ' The Death of Abel.' " 

Mr. William Clerk, brother of the late Lord Eldin, and Mr. H. 
Guthrie Wright, with some others, were members of this German class. 
Its history is less interesting on account of the light it throws upon the 
progress of Sir Walter's studies in that language, than from the mfonna- 
tion it incidentally communicates respecting his disposition and habits of 
intellectual labour at this period of his career. It shows him in pos- 
session of that confirmed health which in youth is always the source of 
high and overflowing spirits, the boldest and gayest among his young 
compeers, turning at times even those studies he had most at heart to a 
jest. It shows him at the same time possessed of knowledge beyond 
his years ; extensively if not profoundly acquainted with the history and 
with the ancient language of his country. At the same time, we find 
that his naturally powerful and comprehensive mind, abandoned so long 
to its own unrestrained pursuits, had invented a method of study for 
itself which was any thing but systematical. He seems, with an unex- 
ampled appetite for reading to have devoured every book that came in 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 63 

his way, without order, arrangement, or purpose ; and at leisure hours, 
with the aid of an astonishingly retentive memory, to have set to work 
to disentangle and arrange his multifarious knowledge. After this 
fashion he accumulated information to an extent that few have ever pos- 
sessed, but of a kind that neither himself nor others could see the use of 
until the process of time turned his attention to novel writing. With 
all its extent, there was a want of precision and accuracy about his 
knowledge that rendered it alike inapplicable to the purposes of a moral- 
ist, a metaphysician, or a practical man. He was regarded by his lighter 
built companions as a huge dungeon of inapplicable knowledge. Their 
ephemeral minds si>ot out into form and existence in half a day ; his 
world of intellect fermented for years in a state of chaos. It was with 
his German studies as with every thing else : he mastered the language 
after a fashion of his own ; in a manner which enabled him at a later 
period to turn it to account, but never to become critically acquainted 
with it. Any attempts which he has made to express himself in Ger- 
man, are eminently ungrammatical. 

Six years had elapsed from the interruption of Scott's college studies 
by illness, six years spent, as we have seen, betwixt the practice of 
athletic exercises, idling in a writer's office, and studies of the most de- 
sultory and multifarious character, when he resumed the character of a 
student at the Edinburgh University. In the college register for the 
year 1790, the name of Walter Scott occurs in the roll of the Scots Law 
Class, at that time taught by Professor Hume, and in that of the Moral 
Philosophy Class, taught by Dugald Stewart. It was then, as now, the 
practice for the majority of those young men whose destination is the 
Scotish bar, to become members of the Speculative Society, a name 
which has been blazoned broadly by the celebrity of many whose earliest 
displays of talent were made within its walls. With this custom, Scott, 
who had long been determined to become one of the " noblesse de la 
robe,^' complied ; and accordingly we learn, from the minutes of the 
society, that on Tuesday, 14th December 1790, a petition from Mr. 
Walter Scott to be admitted a member was presented, read, and ordered 
to be balloted for at next meeting ; that on Tuesday, the 21st December, 
he was duly elected; and that on Tuesday, the 4th January 1791, he 
took his seat for the first time. 

Professor Hume, who still survives, although having since been pro- 
moted to a more lucrative office, he no longer fills the chair, is a nephew 
of the celebrated David Hume, and is said, by those who know him, to 
possess no small share of his uncle's subtilty of intellect. If we may 
judge, however, by his prelections, he is destitute of that comprehensive 
grasp of mind which enables a man to take bold leading views. He 
puzzled about resolving with infinite nicety the difficult points of law, 



64 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

but failed in conveying to his auditors, what is of the utmost importance 
to the young lawyer, a systematic view of its whole extent. Towards 
the close of his career as a public teacher, this habit had gained so much 
upon him, that his lectures consisted of little more than classified notes 
of decisions. These remarks apply to him in the character of a com- 
mentator upon whicli a Benthamite would call the dispensative branch 
of the law of Scotland ; his deficiencies in relation to the penal law were 
yet more dangerous. 

What is called, in virtue of a rather equivocal provincialism, the 
criminal law of Scotland, is mainly what Bentham would call, in his 
nervous language, "Judge-made law." The Scotish penal statutes are 
few in number, and many of them obsolete, as much from the principle 
of the law of Scotland, which admits even of a statute being abrogated 
by desuetude, as by the obsolete nature of the social relations and crimes 
to which they are applicable. It was universally admitted in the old 
time, and is still a pet doctrine with many, that every offence against 
morality may be made a ground of accusation at the bar of the court of 
justiciary, as a crime of " the awin kind," {sui generis ;) what is an of- 
fence against morality being a question left to the determination of the 
judge. With the exception of treason, the laws regarding which have, 
since the Union, been those of England, there are few of those offences 
which form the most frequent subject of inquiry before this court, that 
have not originally been smuggled in under this questionable form, and 
stamped matter of law by the sanction of prescription. The loose habits 
of thought and language superinduced upon those who have been long 
conversant with such a legal system, may easily be conceived. A sys- 
tem of penal jurisprudence thus vague and fluctuating, has, however, 
been rendered if possible more so from the gossiping inaccurate manner 
in which it has been treated by Professor Hume. It only remains to 
be added, that the professor has proved himself one of the most bigoted, 
meddling, and relentless upholders of the prerogative in a narrow-minded 
and persecuting age. Under his hands, the unintelligible crime of sedi- 
tion has become ten times more mysterious than ever. In vague horror 
it transcends even Milton's Death. 

With respect to the extent to which Scott benefited under this learned 
lawyer, the manner in which the business of the class was conducted, 
effectually prevents our forming any conjecture. Attendance was quite 
optional on the part of the student, and no exercises afforded him any 
opportunity of displaying his proficiency. Judging by the natural bent 
of Scott's mind, we should doubt whether he derived much benefit from 
the lectures. A systematic outline of the principles of our municipal 
system he could have appreciated and made his own ; but the considera- 
tion of a thousand minor details was little to his taste, and ill adapted to 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 65 

his peculiar talents. He possessed no hair-splitting fineness of intel- 
lectual perception. Besides, although his acquired habits of thought 
would have allowed him to take sufficient interest in the study of law 
to be at the pains of learning what it was, and discovering the turn of 
mind which would enable a man to succeed in it, he wanted the facul- 
ties and tastes which make a successful lawyer. There is therefore 
every reason to believe that his legal studies resembled those of his own 
Darsie Latimer, who says of himself, " I attended a weary session at 
the Scotish law class ; a wearier at the civil ; and with what excellent 
advantage, my note-book filled with caricatures of the professors and my 
fellow-students, is it not yet extant to testify ?" Perhaps, too, a pas- 
sage in the introductory chapter of "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" may 
be understood to throw some further light upon the author's legal stu- 
dies. " ' And that's all the good you have obtained from three perusals 
of the commentaries on Scotish Criminal Jurisprudence ?' said his com- 
panion. ' I suppose the learned author little thinks that the facts which 
his eiTidition and acuteness have accumulated for the illustration of legal 
doctrine, might be so arranged as to form a sort of appendix to the half- 
bound and slip-shod volumes of the circulating library.' ' I'll bet you 
a pint of claret,' said the elder lawyer, ' that he will not feel sore at the 
comparison.' " Be this, however, as it may, Scott attended the Scots 
law class for two successive sessions, the civil law class being at that 
time, on account of the professor's extreme old age, in a state of tem- 
porary abeyance. 

The moral philosophy class, as it was at that time taught, allbrded a 
more congenial sphere of action to our student, both on account of the 
studies pursued in it, and of the amiable and highly gifted individual 
who filled the chair. It would be alien to our present purpose were we 
here to plunge into an antiquarian discussion respecting the rise and 
progress of the system of education which obtains at our Scotish uni- 
versities. 

It is extremely doubtful whether any process of training could have 
imbued Scott with a taste for systematic philosophical inquiry. The 
natural bent of his mind, confirmed by habit, was to store up informa- 
tion in order to elaborate it into the narrative form. Reflection and 
speculation were with him mere episodical exertions. And such a tiirn 
of mind found encouragement in the tendency of Dugald Stewart's pre- 
lections. He learned to look beyond the mere outward form and actions 
of men, to recognise their peculiar turns of mind, and all the shifting 
play of freak, whim, and wayward affection. It was not in the class 
alone that Scott was exposed to the influence of his teacher's amiable 
and desultory habits of thought. He was introduced into familiar inter- 
course with his family, partly as the nephew of a brother professor, 

I 



m LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 

partly tliror.gh his long established intimacy with the family of Dr. Fer- 
guson. J>?tiniulated by this intercourse, he took an active part in the 
business of the class, as is apparent from a reminiscence of the venera- 
ble author of " A Father's Gift to his Children." " I had no particular 
intimacy with Sir Walter, but I attended Dugald Stewart's Moral Phi- 
losophy class along with him. One of the exercises imposed upon the 
students, was the writing of essays, which were deliveretl to the pro- 
fessor, and afterwards criticised by him publicly in the class. Scott 
composed one at least, and the title was ' On the Manners and Customs 
of the Northern Nations of Europe.' I remember Mr. Stewart saying 
of this essay : — ' The author of that paper shows much knowledge of 
the subject, and great taste for such research and information.' In 
general the professor cntieised the essays without mentioning the names 
of the writers, but I knew this one to be Scott's because he told me." 

It is the misfortune of such a system as Stewart's, that every hearer 
seizes upon the fragment Avhich strikes his fancy to the neglect of all 
the rest. Scott's previous course of reading, we are led to infer from 
this anecdote, led him to find most interest in the portion of the lectures 
devoted to the exposition of the growth of civil society. His historical 
studies rendered it the most intelligible to him, and in it he found a 
principle wliich breathed a living soul into his hitherto desultory stiadiesy 
and gave the re.^tdts, form and consistency. We shall hereafter have 
occasion to note the impression left i^pon his mind by the new trains of 
thought thus suggested to him. At present we turn to his exertions in 
the debating society of which he had enrolled himself a member — not 
the least important part of a Scotish student's academical career. 

Scott took his seat in the Speculative Society for the first time on the 
evening of Tuesday, the 4th of January 1791. He continued a regular 
attendant on its meetings, and a zealous sharer of its labours, till Tues- 
day, the 1st December 1795. As his labours in the society were in 
reality the training to which he subjected himself by way of preparafion 
for the real duties of life, it will be advisable to present them to the 
readers as a continued series, although we are by this means subjected 
to the necessity of passing over some cotemporary events to resume 
them afterwards. The duty of a member of the Speculative Society 
then, as now, consisted partly in the cultivation of the arts of eloquence 
and composition, which is termed the literary, and partly in the manage- 
ment of the society's concenis, which is teniied the private business. 
The latter is perhaps to the full as useful an exercise as the former, 
inasmuch as it trains young men to the forms and duties of public meet- 
ings, which in every free country constitute an important element of the 
state's executive. The habit of transacting local business in assemblies 
of the district inhabitants, teaches men to discharge the duties, and to 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 67 

appreciate the qualifications of the legislator. It is the only sure basis 
of a representative government. And in a country wliere assemblies of 
this kind perform so important a function as in our own, the habits 
taught in the haif-scrious business of debating societies are invaluable. 

The Speculative Society was not so brilliant m Scott's day as at tiie 
time when Brougham, Jetli-ey, and Horner trained their young genius 
within its walls ; a period when the jealousy of all discussion, which 
was the epidemic of the moment, exalted it to an unnatural importance. 
There were, however, even then among its numbers some who have 
since distinguished themselves at the bar and in the church. In the 
latter years Jeffrey was a member, and within these walls was laid the 
foundation of that mutual respect and friendship between Scott and him, 
which not even the keenness of political partisanship could extinguish. 

The share taken by Scott in the literary business of the society de- 
serves to be recorded, as showing the subjects on which his mind at 
that time dwelt with interest. Every member is expected, in the course 
of his attendance, before he is admitted to extraordinary privileges, to 
read three essays. By the routine of the society, Scott ought to have 
delivered his first essay on the 20th of March 1791 ; he applied, how- 
ever, to the society to allow a substitute to discharge the duty for him, 
and had his request granted. Whether this evasion was prompted by 
indolence or diffidence we have no means of ascertaining ; but early in 
the succeeding session he must have mustered courage to face his young 
friends in the capacity of critics. On the 26th of November 1791, he 
read an essay " On the origin of the feudal system." The subject is 
closely connected with that upon which he had chosen to exercise his 
powers of composition in Professor Stewart's class. On the 14th of 
February, 1792, he again came forward ; and his topic on this occasion 
was, " The authenticity of the poems of Ossian." This subject leads 
us to infer that in his other essays he had viewed the Scandhiavians and 
the feudal system more with the eye of a poet than of a lawyer. The 
followers of Fingal, and the bold barons of a later age, excited a kindred 
interest in his bosom. It is to be regretted that no trace has remained 
of the manner in which he treated the claims of Ossian to be admitted a 
denizen of the realm of entities, as in future life he seems sedulously to 
have avoided committing himself on the question. On the 11th of De- 
cember 1792, he read an essay '* On the origin of the Scandinavian 
mythology." On the 3d of April 1793, he again read his essay " On 
the authenticity of Ossian's poems." 

When we view the subjects of these essays in connection with liis 
previous habits of antiquarian study, and also with his subsequent pub- 
lication of the Border Minstrelsy, it is apparent that his predilection for 
dwelling with fondness on the rude Herculean figures of the olden time 



68 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



was already confirmed. The warlike achievements of the ancient Cel- 
tic and Teutonic races, and their cherished superstitions, were the themes 
upon which he loved to linger. These do not seem, however, to have 
been the sole occupants of his mind. The questions debated in the so- 
ciety were necessarily of a more tangible nature, and more modern in- 
terest. In their discussion he took an active part. A hst of the ques- 
tions upon which he spoke in the society is subjoined, together with 
the date of the discussion of each. 



18th Jan. 1791. 

25th Jan. — 

8th Feb. — 

15th Feb. — 



1st March, — 
15th March, — 
13th March, 1792. 

4th Dec. — 

18th Dec. — 
8th Jan. 1793. 
22d Jan. ~ 

5th Feb. — 

12th Feb. — 
5th March, — 

19th March, — 



26th Nov. — 
4th Feb. 1794. 

17th Feb. 1775. 



" Ought any permanent support to be permitted to 

the poor?" 
" Ought there to be an established religion ?" 
" Is attainder and corniption of blood ever a proper 

punishment ?" 
" Ought the public expenses to be defrayed by levy- 
ing the amount immediately from the people ? 
or is it expedient to contract national debt for 
that purpose?" 
" Was the putting of Charles I. to death justifiable ?" 
" Should the slave trade be abolished?" 
" Has the belief in a future state been of advantage 

to mankind ? or is it likely ever to be so ?" 
" Is it for the interest of Great Britain to maintain 

what is called the balance of Europe ?" 
" Was the death of Charles I. justifiable?" 
" Ought divorces by mutual consent to be allowed ?" 
" Ought there to be an established religion in this or 

any other country ?" 
" Can a national debt promote the prosperity of a 

country ?" 
" Ought there to be any poor-rates in a country ?" 
" Ought impress warrants to be issued in a free 

state ?" 
" Is the personal inviolability of the chief magistrate 
in a monarchical government, capable of be- 
coming hostile to the liberties of the people ?" 
" Ought any crime to be punished with death ?" 
" Whether a parliamentary reform would not be im- 
proper at the present period?" 
" Is mercy incompatible with strict law ?" 



This list serves at least to show what the questions were which at 
that time occupied the mind of Scott and the young men of his own age 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 69 

with whom he mingled. It is scarcely to be regretted that the side 
which he adopted in these debates has not been recorded. He was of 
an age at which few settled opinions are formed, and when young men 
feel most pleasure in endeavouring to show their parts, by making the 
worse appear the better reason. The opinions which he avowed on 
three occasions have however come down to us . He maintained that a 
national debt can promote the prosperity of a country, and that mercy 
is incompatible with justice. On another occasion he argued against 
the expediency of divorce by mutual consent. It may also be remarked, 
that the discussion of the death of Charles I. by the society, was in con- 
sequence of his suggestion. His orations were in all probability as 
jejune as those of other young debaters: his delivery is said to have 
been characterised by gentleness and good humour. 

However active the part which he took in the literary discussions of 
the society, that which he took in its private business was still more so. 
On the 18th of January 1791, the night of his third appearance among 
them, he was appointed librarian. On the 26th of November in the 
same year, he was chosen secretary, to which office the discharge of 
the duties of treasurer was then attached. These various functions he 
continued to discharge with unrelaxed assiduity till the 1st of December 
1795, when he resigned on the ground that, " owing to his other avo- 
cations, it was out of his power to retain any longer the offices of secre- 
tary and librarian." From the time of his appointment to the secretary- 
ship, till his demission, he regularly extended the minutes of each meet- 
ing with his own hand. The writing is at first a sprawling scrawl, 
which, as we turn over the leaves, contracts into the firm compact hand 
which he retained almost to the last. His spelling, however, is ex- 
tremely incorrect. A subject of debate, recommended to the society by 
himself, is thus entered : — " Ought the king to have the unlimited power 
of creating piers V On a subsequent occasion a gentleman is stated to 
have read an essay on " Ironical Parliaments." Society, priviledge, 
publick, and the like, are of frequent occurrence. 

Another branch of his regular duties was to deliver and receive back 
the books borrowed by members from the library, to make annual re- 
ports respecting the state in which it was, and to carry into efllect the 
orders of the society for the purchase of books. In his capacity of 
treasurer, he was called upon to collect all the moneys due to the so- 
ciety, to make the necessary disbursements, and to lay, at the com- 
mencement of every winter session, an accurate statement of accounts 
before the members. But his financial duties were rendered more deli- 
cate and complicated, by the fact of his predecessor having been in ar- 
rears to the society at the time of leaving office, to the amount of 65/. 
Those who have had experience, can tell how difficult it is in a society 



70 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

possessing no source of income beyond the very slender entry-money, 
and annual contributions of the members, and occasional fines, to meet 
even the unavoidable current outlay. Yet Scott managed so well, that 
on his quitting otiice at the commencement of the session 1795-96, the 
outstanding debts of the society only exceeded the funds immediately 
available by 17/., and the annual contributions of members had not at 
that time been paid up. 

The only other services, beyond his usual routine duties which it fell 
to Scott as office-bearer to perform, were the management of a corre- 
spondence with the Historical Society of Dublin, an affiliated associa- 
tion, which, having quarreled with the heads of the " Silent Sister," had 
re-organised itself without the college walls ; and the preparation of a 
certificate for a French gentleman, who, having incurred the suspicion 
of his government on account of a temporary residence in Great Britain, 
was forced to collect evidence for the purpose of showing that he had 
the whole time been busily engaged in the prosecution of his studies. 

Scott tells us in one of his works, that his principal aim at this pe- 
riod of his life, was to qualify himself for rising in the profession of the 
law. The love of literary distinction had for a time been hushed to 
slumber. And certainly the experiment instituted and persevered in for 
four years in the Speculative Society, establishes most satisfactorily, that 
he possessed in no common degree that power of steady and persevering 
exertion which seldom fails to raise even men of mediocre talents to 
eminence. Whether his extreme industry were not increased in some 
measure by the watchful control of his father, anxious to train him to 
habits of business, or in a great degree owing to a yielding good-natured 
disposition, unable to refuse an undue share of labour imposed upon 
him by more volatile and indolent companions, is uncertain. That his 
temper was highly conciliatory, we know ; for every person who came 
into contact with him liked him. A lady, whom we have already had 
occasion to quote more than once, says that he was at this time occa- 
sionally full of drollery, and occasionally very dull ; adding, that he 
seemed to her to want spirit. An impression of the same kind seems 
to have won for him such feelings on the part of all his associates, as 
express themselves in the following anecdote. When Dr. Baird was 
elevated to the dignity of Principal of the University of Edinburgh in 
1793, the Speculative Society, of which he was a member, gave him a 
dinner. When the evening was somewhat advanced, the gentleman 
who had presided on the occasion withdrew, and the secretary was by 
the unanimous acclaim of the sturdier convivialists called to fill the va- 
cant chair. " He hirpled towards it," says our informant, " in his usual 
quiet way, and only remarked before he sat down, that he was not tlie 
first man who had been called upon to fill a place of which he was not 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 71 

worthy. The unintentional blow struck home, and was received with 
bursts of laughter. But there were higher capacities fermenting beneath 
the tranquil surface of his unobtnisive cheerfulness." 

In the minute-book of the Faculty of Advocates, (we now return to 
take up our dropped loops, as a knitter would say,) the following entry 
occurs under the date 11th June, 1791 : — " The faculty considered the 
petition for Mr. Walter Scott, son of Mr. Walter Scott, writer to the 

signet, Mr. Guthrie , Mr. William Clerk, son of John Clerk 

of Eldin, Esq., presented to the Lords of Council and Session, praying 
that they might be remitted by their Lordships to the Dean and Faculty 
of Advocates, to take trial of their skill in law in the ordinary way, and 
to report. They did by their several ballotings authorise the Dean of 
Faculty to remit the petitioners to the private examinators on the civil 
law, to take trial of their skill in law, and to report." The Mr. Wil- 
liam Clerk named in this minute is the same gentleman we have already 
had occasion to mention, as a member of the German class commemo- 
rated by Scott. It was from him that Scott, not many years after the 
period to which we now refer, learned the anecdote of Bill Jones, out 
of which Lewis manufactured one of his " Tales of Ten-or." 

Little more than a year later, we find the following entry : — " Edin- 
burgh, 10th July, 1792. * * * Mr. Walter Scott, son of Mr. Walter 
Scott, writer to the signet, was publicly examined on Tit, 
and found sufficiently qualified. The Faculty recommended him to 
the Dean, to assign him a law out of the above title, for the subject of 
his discourse to the Lords and the Faculty." The name of the title is 
left blank in the original. The Hon. Henry Erskine was at that time 
Dean of Faculty. It is to his memory that Scott has paid the most pa- 
thetic tribute, (with perhaps the single exception of Charles Lamb's 
prose monody on his brother, in his " Dream Children,") that ever was 
whispered from the shadowy region, where the lands of fiction and 
reality meet. We allude to a passage in his Chronicles of the Canon- 
gate, of which the manner of his own death has since enhanced the 
melancholy interest, where he makes the paralytic lawyer struggle to 
describe him as " the wittiest and the best humoured man living." But 
this gentleman, whose memory his friends regard with an enthusiasm 
bordering on idolatry, was not the person to be tied down to the strict 
observance of formal routine. There are many such lacunce as the 
above, in the minutes which it was his duty, as perpetual president of 
the Faculty, to revise and authenticate with his signature. Unluckily, 
too, the Thesis, or printed Latin discourse, which every candidate for 
admission to the Faculty distributes among its members, previous to his 
public examination, is not to be found among the series preserved in the 
Advocates' Library ; and but for the attention of a friend we should not 



72 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

have been able to place upon record, that the subject of discussion, se- 
lected for the purpose of testing the information of the Intrant, (so a 
candidate for admission to the honours of the long robe is technicaUy 
designated in Scotland,) was die twenty-fourth title of the forty-eighth 
book of Justinian's Pandects. 

The whole ceremony of die composition and distribution of the 
thesis is, and has been so far back as the memory of man reaches, a 
mere farce. It is very rarely tlie composition of the person whose 
name it bears. It would be unfair, therefore, to hold Scott responsible 
for this brief medley of indifferent Latin and common-place truisms. 
What could be said of a title treating of so important a matter as the 
" disposal of the bodies of criminals" in a state of society which had no 
analogy with that in which the commentator lived ? The only passage 
worthy of being held in remembrance, and that simply because it indi- 
cates that Scott had already enlisted under the banners of the political 
party, to which he afterwards so firmly adhered, is a line in the dedica- 
tion to Lord Braxfield, complimenting his lordship for his zeal "in re- 
storing and vindicating the rights of the oppressed." This was a bold 
stretch of imagination. 

Unluckily no authentic record has been preserved of the young advo- 
cate's deportment, while assuming the hat in presence of the assembled 
judges, or while sitting consequential, and timid, yet amused at the 
breakfast-table of the witty dean. The memory of the festival which 
celebrated his investiture with the gown has perished from the memory 
of men. And as to the sober business details of his professional career, 
they belong more properly to the province of the next chapter, where 
the reader will find them. He has occasionally, however, thrown out 
in his writings hints of the favourite avocations of the young lawyers of 
his day, one or two of which may be cited, to give an idea of the asso- 
ciates by whom he now found himself surrounded. At die Scotish bar 
there has always been a due proportion of young men of fortune, who 
never seriously looked for business. Chrystal Croftangry, Esq. thus 
incidentally describes those of Scott's younger days : — " Of the earlier 
part of my life it is only necessary to say, that I swept the boards of the 
parliament house with the skirts of my gown, for the usual number of 
vears, during which young lairds were in my time expected to keep 
term — got no fees — laughed and made others laugh — drank claret at 
Bayle's, Fortune's, and Walker's— and eat oysters in the Covenant 
close." In the introduction to the Heart of Mid-Lothian, we find the 
young lawyer who aspired to business described with " the new novel 
most in repute lying on his table, — snugly entrenched, however, beneath 
Stair's Institutes, or an open volume of Morison's Decisions;" and go- 
ing about with his pockets full of " old play-bills, letters requesting a 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 73 

meeting of the Faculty, rules of the Speculative Society, syllabus of lec- 
tures — all the miscellaneous contents of a young advocate's pocket, 
which contains every thing but briefs and bank-notes." Whoever 
wishes to get further insight into Sir Walter's reminiscences of his 
" walking the boards," may consult Redgauntlet, 

Scott assumed the gown only a few days before the close of the sum- 
mer session of the year 1792 ; and not long afterwards, he set out on a 
pretty extensive tour through the Highlands. He entered the moun- 
tainous region through the county of Stirling, where he seems to have 
paid a visit to the venerable father of Sir Ralph Abercromby. At least 
he has himself told us that from that gentlemen he learned in 1793 an 
anecdote of his early life, which seems to have made a lasting impres- 
sion on him. It is to this effect : — " When Mr. Abercromby of Tulli- 
body first settled in Stirlingshire, his cattle were repeatedly driven off" 
by the celebrated Rob Roy, or some of his gang ; and at length he was 
obliged, after obtaining a proper safe-conduct, to make the cateran such 
a visit as that of Waverley to Bean Lean. Rob received him with much 
courtesy, and made many apologies for the accident, which must have 
happened, he said, by some mistake. Mr. Abercromby was regaled 
with collops from two of his own cattle, which were hung up by the 
heels in the cavern, and was dismissed in perfect safety, after having 
agreed to pay in future a small sum of black mail, in consideration of 
which Rob Roy not only undertook to forbear his herds in future, but 
to replace any that should be stolen from him by other freebooters. Mr. 
Abercromby said, Rob Roy affected to consider him as a friend to the 
Jacobite interest, and a sincere enemy to the union. Neither of these 
circumstances were true; but the laird thought it quite unnecessary 
to undeceive his Highland host, at the risk of bringing on a poUtical 
dispute in such a situation." 

Scott's route seems after this visit to have led him up through the 
strath of Monteith to Loch Katrine, and thence down upon Loch Lo- 
mond. Between these two celebrated sheets of water is situated the 
Fort of Inversnaid, built originally to bridle the restless freebooter Rob 
Roy. It was at the close of the civil war 1745-46 repaired and strength- 
ened ; and was at one time commanded by the gallant Wolfe. A more 
pacific age, however, had arrived, as is strikingly exemplified from the 
following memorial by Scott, of the condition in which he found the 
fortress. " About 1792, when the author chanced to pass that way, 
while on a tour through the Highlands, a garrison, consisting of a sin- 
gle veteran, was still maintained at Inversnaid. The venerable warder 
was reaping his barley croft in all peace and tranquillity ; and when we 
asked admittance to repose ourselves, he told us we would find the key 
of the fort under the door." His further progress we cannot trace with 

K 



74 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

perfect accuracy, but he seems to have taken a wide sweep through the 
centre of the Highlands, as we next find him a visitant of the minister 
of Dunnotar. The year to which the extract we are about to lay before 
our readers refers, is indeed vaguely indicated, but in another place, (the 
original preface to the Chronicles of the Canongate,) it is fixed in the 
year 1792. " It is about thirty years since, or more, that the author 
met with this singular person, (Old Mortality,) in the churchyard of 
Dunnotar, when spending a day or two with the late learned and excel- 
lent clergyman, Mr. Walker, the minister of that parish, for the purpose 
of a close examination of the ruins of the castle of Dunnotar, and other 
subjects of antiquarian research in the neighbourhood. Old Mortality 
chanced to be at the same place, on the usual business of his pilgrimage ; 
for the castle of Dunnotar, though lying in the anti-covenanting district 
of the Mearns, was, with the parish churchyard, celebrated for the op- 
pressions sustained there by the Cameronians in the time of James II." 

After a short digression, the narrative proceeds thus : — " It was while 
I was listening to this story, and looking at the monument referred to, 
that I saw Old Mortality engaged in his daily task of cleaning and re- 
pairing the ornaments and epitaphs upon the tomb. His appearance 
and equipment were exactly as described in the novel. I was very de- 
sirous to see something of a person so singular, and expected to have 
done so, as he took up his quarters with the hospitable and liberal- 
spirited minister. But though Mr. Walker invited him up after dinner 
to partake of a glass of spirits and water, to which he was supposed not 
to be very averse, yet he would not speak frankly upon the subject of 
his occupations. He was in bad humour, and had, according to his 
phrase, no freedom for conversation with us. 

" His spirit had been sorely vexed, by hearing in a certain Aberdo- 
nian kirk the psalmody directed by a pitch-pipe, or some similar instru- 
ment, which was to Old Mortality the abomination of abominations. 
Perhaps, after all, he did not feel himself at ease with his company ; he 
might suspect the questions asked by a north-country minister and a 
young barrister to savour more of idle curiosity than profit. At any 
rate, in the phrase of John Bunyan, Old Mortality went on his way, and 
I saw him no more." 

There are circumstances which lead us to believe that it was on this 
occasion Scott paid a visit to the castle of Glammis, the seat of the Earl 
of Strathmore, and honoured by having been the scene of a friendly 
meeting between Gray and Beattie. A little anecdote which Scott has 
preserved, respecting his visit to this ancient pile, is rendered doubly 
interesting by the light which it throws upon his feelings at this time, in 
regard to supernatural intercourse. Many foolish stories have got into 
circulation respecting Scott's superstition. This is a theme upon which 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 75 

we shall be obliged to expatiate, when we come to speak of his prose 
works. Let it suffice to remark here, that he seems to us to have had 
even less of that weakness in his constitution than most men. He is 
fond of lingering on the theme, but it is after the manner of a man coolly- 
investigating the particulars of a strange and improbable story. Even 
when using it as an ingredient of his poetry, he is apt to spiritualise 
ghost legends into something approaching to allegory. A moral lurks 
behind his spectres. Not so Hogg, who, by the mere naivete of his 
narrative, communicates to the most inconsequential dreams of second 
childhood the power of making the hair to bristle. Scott possessed an 
iron frame, and had, moreover, been initiated into the metaphysical school 
of Reid, which is too fond of experimenting with the senses to leave any 
of their delusions unexplained. 

" I have been myself, at two periods of luy life distant from each 
other, engaged in scenes favourable to that degree of superstitious awe, 
which my countrymen expressively call being eerie. On the first of 
these occasions, I was only nineteen or twenty years old, when I hap- 
pened to pass a night in the magnificent old baronial castle of Glammis, 
the hereditary seat of the Earl of Strathmore. The heavy pile contains 
much in its appearance, and in the traditions connected with it, impres- 
sive to the imagination. It was the scene of the murder of a Scotish 
king of great antiquity ; not, indeed, the gi-acious Duncan, with whom 
the name naturally associates itself, but Malcolm the Second. It con- 
tains also a curious monument of the peril of feudal times, being a secret 
chamber, the entrance of which, by the law or custom of the family, 
must only be known to three persons at once, viz., the Earl of Strath- 
more, his heir-apparent, and any third person they may take into their 
confidence. The extreme antiquity of the building is vouched by the 
thickness of the walls, and the wild straggling arrangement of the ac- 
commodation within doors. As the late Earl of Strathmore seldom re- 
sided in that ancient mansion, it was, when I was there, but half fur- 
nished, and that with moveables of great antiquity, which, with the 
pieces of chivalric armour hanging upon the walls, greatly contributed 
to the general effect of the whole. After a very hospitable reception 
from the late Peter Procter, then seneschal of the castle, in Lord Strath- 
more's absence, I was conducted to my apartment in a distant corner 
of the building. I must own, that as I heard door after door shut, after 
my conductor had retired, I began to consider myself too far fi"om the 
living, and somewhat too near the dead. We had passed through what 
is called 'the king's room,' a vaulted apartment, garnished with stag's 
antlers and similar trophies of the chase, and said by tradition to be the 
spot of Malcolm's murder, and I had an idea of the vicinity of the castle 
chapel. 



76 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

" In spite of the truth of history, the whole night-scene in Macbeth's 
castle rushed at once upon my mind, and struck my mind more forci- 
bly than even when I have seen its terrors represented by the late 
John Kemble and his inimitable sister. In a word, I experienced 
sensations, which, though not remarkable either for timidity or super- 
stition, did not fail to afl'ect me to the point of being disagreeable, 
while they were mingled at the same time with a strange and inde- 
scribable sort of pleasure, the recollection of which affords me gratifi- 
cation at this moment."* 

From this excursion the young lawyer returned in time to make his 
debut at the Jedburgh circuit. He was anxious to obtain an oppor- 
tunity of displaying his forensic skill ; but his anxiety to make himself 
acquainted with the country and inhabitants was still greater. He was 
now touching upon those rude countries which intervene betwixt the 
fertile Merse where much of his boyish life had been spent, and the 
most northern districts of England. He was anxious to penetrate into 
the recesses of those hills with whose rude traditions he was so fa- 
miliar. In such a mood he was Avalking on the streets of Jedburgh, 
canvassing with a proprietor from the neighbourhood the most expe- 
dient mode of accomplishing an excursion into Teviotdale, when Mr. 
Robert Shortreed, sheriff-depute of the county, passed them. " There's 
just your man," said Scott's friend, and proceeded to introduce the two 
lawyers to each other in due form. Mr. Shortreed was not only able 
and willing to aid the young stranger in his projected excursion; his 
official situation enabled him to introduce his new friend to one or two 
of those unfortunate culprits whose destiny it is to pass to their final 
doom through the purgatory of affording young ban-isters the same op- 
portunity of acquiring practical knowledge that young medical men 
derive from Infirmary patients. And the friendship thus auspiciously 
commenced was a lasting one, for from that day, whenever Scott had 
occasion to visit Jedburgh, Shortreed's house was his home. 

The debutant had reason to be satisfied with the issue of his first 
tiial. The evening before the court sat he had as usual an interview 

* Sir Walter has, in his notes to Waverly, communicated one of his own exploits 
in his Castle of Glammis, whether performed on this or some subsequent occasion, 
it is impossible to determine. " The Poculum Potatorium of the valiant baron, his 
Blessed Bear, has a prototype at the fine old Castle of Glammis, so rich in memo- 
rials of the ancient times; it is a massive beaker of silver, double gilt, moulded into 
the shape of a Hon, and holding about an English pint of wine. The form alludes 
to the family name of Strathmore, which is Lyon, and when exhibited, the cup must 
necessarily be emptied to the earl's health. The author ought perhaps to be ashamed 
of recording that he had the honour of swallowing the contents of the lion ; and the 
recollection of the feat served to suggest the story of the Bear of Bradwardine." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 77 

with his respectable client in the jail. To Shortreed's inquiry on his 
return what was his opinion of the case, he replied, " Guilty, by G— d !" 
Next day, however, by some of those unaccountable turns which at 
times occur in judicial proceedings, the evidence for the crown broke 
down, and the jury acquitted the culprit. With a pardonable degree 
of triumph in an unfledged lawyer, Scott addressed his friend, " Not 
ill done that, to get off such a blackguard !" 

Full of the buoyant spirits of one and twenty, with a body strength- 
ened by his addiction to athletic exercises, and a heart triumphing in 
the success of his first circuit, he set out with his worthy host to ex- 
plore the recess of Teviotdale and Liddesdale. The character of the 
district into which he now penetrated for the first time, will be best 
understood from the account he has himself given of it. " The roads 
of Liddesdale, in Dandie Dinmont's day, could not be said to exist, 
and the district was only accessible through a succession of tremendous 
morasses. About thirty years ago," (at a much later period than that 
of which we are now speaking,) " the author himself was the first 
person who drove a little open carriage into these wilds ; the excellent 
roads by which they are now traversed being then in some progress. 
The people stared with no small wonder at a sight which many of 
them had never witnessed in their lives before." The manners and 
character of the then inhabitants Scott has made so universally known, 
that it would be vain to attempt a description of them after him. 

The friends performed their journey on horseback, Mr. Shortreed 
riding a gray mare, which recommended itself to the future novelist by 
its sagacity in crossing mosses and mires, and has since been immor- 
talised under the name of Dumple. A characteristic anecdote of their 
tour used to be related with much glee by Mr. Shortreed. On visiting 
a person whose name and residence are sufficiently indicated by his 
usual designation of ' Willie o' Milburn," the honest farmer was from 
home, but returned while Scott was tying up his horse in the stable. 
On being told by Mr. Shortreed that an Edinburgh advocate was come 
to see him, he expressed great alarm, and even horror as to the charac- 
ter of his visiter, the old fear of the law being still so very rife in Lid- 
desdale, as even to extend to the simple person of any of its adminis- 
trators. What idea Willie had formed of an Edinburgh lawyer, it 
might be difficult to conjecture ; but having gone out to reconnoitre, 
he soon returned with a countenance sufficiently radiant to show that 
his fears had been relieved. " Is yon the advocate ?" he inquired of 
Mr. Shortreed. " Yes, Willie," replied that gentleman. '* Deil o' 
me's feared for them then," cried the farmer; " yon's just a chield like 
oursels." 

The method employed by Scott at this time for riveting on his 



78 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

memory the local anecdotes and legends which he collected from the 
individuals with whom he came in contact, was amusing enough. He 
seized any twig or piece of wood which came to hand, and kept notch- 
ing it with his clasp knife as the narrator went on. These poetical 
tally sticks he at times intrusted to the charge of his companion ; and 
Mr. Shortreed used to allege, that on one occasion this strange note- 
book became so bulky, that, in the language of Burns, the pins in his 
pocket 

" Might serve to mend a mill 

In time o' need." 

The excursion proved so pleasant, that it was repeated every autumn, af- 
ter the circuit, for many years. These jaunts Scott used playfully to term 
his raids into Liddesdale ; in some sort they deserved the name, for he 
carried back with him precious spoil, the materials of his inimitable 
narratives. 

His determination to qualify himself as a pleader now kept him for 
the greater part of the year a close residenter in Edinburgh. Personal 
attendance (the mind may ramble whither it will) is rigorously enforced 
upon every young aspirant after practice at the Scotish bar. Besides, 
Scott, who had commenced his career under the friendly auspices of 
the party in power, was resolved to keep himself in their view. His 
employment in the outer-house might not, as he has himself informed 
us, exceed one opportunity of appearing in behalf of the prototype of 
Peter Peebles, but he was regtilarly present in the private meetings of 
the Faculty, for the purpose of showing that he was determined to be 
recognised as one of them. The consequence was, that he was soon 
regarded by the then managers of that body's affairs as a young man 
of good principles and steady habits, and rewarded, accordingly, with 
that species of patronage which exerts itself to place a beginner in situ- 
ations which, by making him a little prominent, may give him an ex- 
cuse for aspiring, on some future occasion, to appointments of real 
emolument and honour. It is the custom of the Faculty of Advocates 
to elect their office-bearers annually, in a general meeting held as soon 
as possible after New-Year's day. These officials, whose duty it is to 
conduct the general and financial business of their corporation, to super- 
intend the examinations of such as apply to be admitted into it, or to 
aid in the management of the various charities, a partial control over 
which has been vested by their founders in the gentlemen of the long 
robe, are tolerably numerous, and continue in office, as the case may 
be, for one year only, or are re-elected for a succession of years. One 
of the few matters of real importance which the Faculty has to attend 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 79 

to is the management of its extensive and valuable library ; an institu- 
tion which, in virtiie of being one of those entitled to claim a copy of 
every work entered at Stationers' Hall, may be regarded as one of the 
national libraries. This collection is intrusted to the care of a librarian, 
who acts with the advice and under the control of five curators chosen 
from among the body of advocates. In general, each curator remains 
in office five years ; he who has completed his time of service resigning 
at the annual meeting, and having a successor appointed. On the first 
of June 1795, consequently before Scott had completed his third year 
at the bar, we find the following entry made in the minutes of the Fa- 
culty : — " Mr. Walter Scott was appointed one of the curators of the 
library in the room of Sir William Miller, (Lord Glenlee,) promoted 
to the bench." 

As it falls within the limits of the period of Scott's life which we are 
at present recording, it may preserve a kind of continuity in our review 
of his occupations, to add here, that we find his name entered in the 
list of curators on the occasion of the annual election which took place 
on the 18th of January 1796, along with those of Mr. David Hume, 
Professor of Scots Law, and Mr. Malcolm Laing, the historian. Dui'- 
ing the course of the same year, a piece of duty incidental to his office 
was imposed upon him, which must have afforded peculiar gratification 
to one of his turn of mind, and which may perhaps be received at the 
same time as a proof of the respect entertained for his acquirements. 
In the minute-book of the Faculty of Advocates, of date the 5th March 
1796, there occurs the following entry. " It having been represented 
that the cabinet of the medals in the library was in some disorder, it was 
recommended to Mr. Hodgson Cay and Mr. Walter Scott, two of the 
present curators of the library, to put the medals in proper arrange- 
ment." Another entry, dated the 17th of December 1796, throws 
some light upon the result of this recommendation. " Mr. H. Cay, 
one of the curators of the library, represented to the Faculty the im- 
portant services derived from the knowledge and assiduity of Dr. Ken- 
nedy in arranging and classifying the valuable collection of coins be- 
longing to the Faculty, and moved, that in return for his services the 
faculty confer upon Dr. Kennedy the use of their library. This mo- 
tion was seconded by Mr. Walter Scott, also one of the curators of the 
library, and after a good deal of discussion, the consideration of it re- 
ferred to the curators at large to report to the anniversary meeting." It 
would appear from this statement, that the curators had found it neces- 
sary to call m the assistance of a more skilful practical antiquary. This, 
however, at least in the case of the more immediate subject of our nar- 
rative, is not to be wondered at. Up to the time of this commission, 
his attention had never been invited to the inspection and appreciation 



80 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

of medals, a task which requires the combined acquirements of the 
minute antiquarian and the amateur of art. Nor does he seem at any 
period to have devoted much attention to this fascinating study. A 
mind like his, however, could not superintend the labours of Dr. Ken- 
nedy without profit, and many allusions occur in his writings to this 
branch of inquiry ; nay, we may not be going too far when we refer 
to this incident the commencement of his passion for collecting and 
preserving the relics of antiquity, the earliest recorded example of 
which it will soon be our task lo commemorate. 

While these minutes show him to have been as active in the private 
concerns of the learned body of which he was a member, as his youth 
admitted of, the records of the high court of justiciary prove that he 
was endeavouring, at the same time, to struggle professionally into 
public notice. The penal tribunal of Scotland sits in virtue of a separate 
commission from that which gives warrant to the proceedings of the 
court of session. Its forms of administering justice are different, and 
being comparatively popular, hold out greater attractions to a young 
man equally desirous of literary and legal eminence. The topics of 
discussion are also more generally interesting, less technical and re- 
pulsive. Lastly, it is a, court which offers few temptations to lawyers 
already possessed of a lucrative business, and is principally abandoned, 
like a kind of practical school, to those members of the profession who 
have no better employment. The occasional opportunities it aff'ords 
for the display of eloquence and ingenuity, the pleasing sense of im- 
portance conveyed by the consciousness of having a lea case o ma age 
and vague flattering hopes of obtaining the favour of the bench, or 
(more important still) the agents, conspire to render the court of jus- 
ticiary a favourite halle dfarmes of young barristers. We know from 
the evidence of Mr. Shortreed's family, that Scott was a constant at- 
tendant at the Jedburgh circuit, and generally managed to get himself 
employed in a case or two. The minutes taken at the circuit courts, 
however, are merely entered in a scroll-book and never extended. 
They rarely contain the names of the counsel, or any thing that can 
throw light on the progress of the trial. The forensic efforts of our 
hero at these perambulatory courts, must therefore sleep in silence. 
The records of the court of Justiciary during its sittings in Edinburgh 
are somewhat more specific, and in them the name of Walter Scott ap- 
pears for the first time on the 14th of July 1795. 

A favourite amusement of boys, and such young men as have out- 
grown the years of boyhood without relinquishing all its tastes, has 
ever been the firing of pistols, miniature cannons, and such like puny 
artillery. On the afternoon of the seventeenth June 1795, a young 
man of the name of James Niven, who, after serving for some time on 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 81 

board a king's ship, had been discharged in consequence of a wound 
in his right hand, and was living unemployed with his father, a tobac- 
conist in Edinburgh, loaded and discharged a small iron cannon for the 
amusement of some of his juvenile associates. According to his own 
declaration, he put nothing into the tube but some powder, a wadding 
of paper, and a little tobacco. It so happened however, that on dis- 
charging the cannon up Liberton's Wynd, a piece of iron, either ram- 
med down with the rest of the loading, or splintered from the metal by 
the concussion, struck a man standing before one of the doors, and 
killed him almost instantaneously. There was no suspicion of a mali- 
cious intention on the part of Niven, but the fact of his having dis- 
charged fire-arms apparently loaded with an iron bolt along a public 
street, where people were constantly passing and repassing, argued 
such a culpable levity and indifference to the lives and safety of others, 
as induced the public prosecutor to bring up the lad for trial. Singu- 
larly enough, the man David Knox, for whose murder this first client 
of Sir Walter Scott stood arraigned, is described in the indictment as 
"late doorkeeper to the Faculty of Advocates." 

The 14th of July 1795 was appointed for the day of trial, and on 
that day appeared before Lord Justice Clerk Braxfield and his bench- 
fellows in equity, — for the crown, Mr. Robert Blair, solicitor-general, 
and Mr. John Anstruther, one of the depute advocates ; for the prisoner, 
Mr. James Ferguson, and Mr. Walter Scott. Mr. James Ferguson 
was very little Scott's senior at the bar, and their intimacy had com- 
menced in the Speculative Society. He had, however, by his ambi- 
tion to attain distinction by his forensic eloquence, already pushed him- 
self into a shght degree of notoriety at the justiciary bar, and under 
his experienced guidance his more bashful friend adventured his coup- 
cVessai In the circumstances of the case, it was of the utmost conse- 
quence for the party accused to make a stand upon the question whe- 
ther the facts specified in the libel were in themselves sufficient to infer 
either murder or the alternative charge of culpable homicide. Arguing 
a plea of this kind is called in Scotland objecting to the relevancy of 
the indictment, and the discussion takes place in open court previous 
to the impanneling of the jury. It fell to Scott, as junior counsel on 
the occasion, to open the case, which he did with such effect, that the 
bench deferred pronouncing judgment, and ordained in the mean time, 
" Parties procurators to give in information upon the foregoing debate 
to the clerk of court in order to be recorded." It is not our cue to 
enter upon the particulars of the argument, but as the written informa- 
tion lodged for the accused bears the signatvire of Walter Scott, it is 
certainly worth while to lay before our readers such extracts as may 



82 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

give them a notion of the style and execution of the paper. It is ex- 
actly such a production as might have been expected from a young 
man of superior talents and extensive reading, but inexperienced in bu- 
siness and comparatively new to the practice of composition. There 
is good sense and clear argument, but occasional redundant displays ot 
law learning sufficient to excite suspicion that it had been picked up 
for the occasion, and frequent attempts at fine writing. It commences 
rather clumsily. 

INFORMATION FOR JAMES NIVEN. 

" The pannel, James Niven, in whose behalf the following pages 
are submitted to your lordships, stands accused of the crime of murder, 
or at least of culpable homicide, by an indictment, bearing that he hav- 
ing got into his possession a small iron gun or cannon, with iron car- 
riage and wheels, in the afternoon of the seventeenth day of the month 
of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, or of one or 
other of the days of that month, did bring the said small gun or cannon 
into the workshop of Ebenezer Wilson, founder in Liberton's Wynd, 
in the city of Edinburgh, and did there load said gun or cannon with 
powder, a wadding of paper, some tobacco, and a piece of iron resem- 
bling in appearance part of a small bolt or large screAv-nail, and having 
so loaded the said gun or cannon, he carried it out and placed it on a 
step of the stair, at the gate leading into the house of Robert Playfair, 
Writer in Liberton's Wynd aforesaid, and pointed the muzzle in a di- 
rection up the said Wynd ; that David Knox, late doorkeeper to the 
Faculty of Advocates, was standing in said Wynd in conversation with 
Mrs. Helen Douglas, relict of James Baillie, late of Olive Bank, and 
was then within a very few yards of the stair above described, and 
when the mouth of said gun was pointed directly towards the said 
David Knox and Mrs. Helen Douglas, he (the pannel) did wickedly 
and feloniously, or at least culpably, fire oft' the same, in consequence 
of which the said David Knox was killed almost instantaneously. 

" The prisoner having been brought to the bar, pleaded not guilty 
to the above accusation, and in his defence the following facts were 
shortly stated by his counsel : — 

" That the pannel was a young lad who had served some time on 
board his majesty's ships, the Hector and London ; in which service 
he had conducted himself with sobriety and attention to his duty, till 
his hand having been disabled by an accident, he was dismissed as in- 
capable of further service It may not be here improper to insert an 
answer received by the pannel's agent to a letter addressed to the sur- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 83 

geon or lieutenant of the said ships, as evidence of what was then 
stated." 

(The letter is inserted and the paper continues.) 

" The counsel proceeded to state, that since his return to Edinburgh, 
he wrought in the work-house of a founder upon Leith Walk, where 
he purchased the cannon libeled on, from a fellow-workman, with the 
innocent intention of disposing of it again to advantage, as he consi- 
dered it worth double or triple the price he paid for it. In the mean 
time he fired it several times by way of trial or amusement in Liberton's 
Wynd, without being challenged by any one whatever, and did so on 
the 17th of June, having previously loaded it with some paper and to- 
bacco, which he rammed home with an iron bolt or screw-nail taken 
up by chance in the shop of Ebenezer Wilson, founder, on which he 
struck several blows with a hammer. 

" If in consequence of the shot which he then discharged, the fatal 
accident happened, it was urged he could not possibly be made liable 
for it, because, in the first place, he did not know Mr. Knox, and 
could have no malice against him, nor did he observe either the de- 
ceased or any other person in the wynd when he fired ; and, in the 
second place, he conceived the contents of the piece to be perfectly 
harmless. The only possible way, therefore, by which the accident 
can be accounted for, is by supposing that a splinter of the bolt which 
the pannel used as a ramrod had unfortunately remained in the cannon 
without the pannel's knowledge ; and this is the more probable, as he 
had struck it down with a hammer in order to increase the report. 

" Answers having been made to these defences on the part of the 
crown, your lordships conceiving the case attended with some nicety, 
were pleased to order informations. In obedience to that interlocutor 
this paper is humbly submitted on the part of the pannel, of which it 
will be the object to show, that the statement of facts, even as narrated 
in the libel, is altogether insufficient to bear out the charge of murder; 
and, 2dly, That even that of culpable homicide will be completely 
elided, if the pannel shall be able to establish the defences above nar- 
rated. In other words : — first, the relevancy of the libel, and then 
that of the defence, will be considered. It is true that the latter part 
of the case seems not to have been considered by the learned gentle- 
man who drew the information for the crown, his observations being 
confined to what is stated in the libel, Avithout entering into the ques- 
tion how far the pannel's defences can be admitted to qualify or alle- 
viate its conclusions. It is presumed, however, that the libel and de- 
fences are both before the court, and therefore are with equal propriety 
subjects of argument in the informations. This indeed is illustrated 



84 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

by the ancient practice of the court, whose special interlocutors of re- 
levancy used to respect the defences as well as the libel. With some 
preliminary observations, requesting, at the same time, the indulgence 
of the court if the plan is irregular, tlie pannel's counsel shall proceed 
to state the general argument on these separate points, with such 
authorities as seem in point. 

" Murder, or the wilful premeditated slaughter of a citizen, is a 
crime of so deep and scarlet a dye, that there is scarce a nation to be 
found in which it has not, from the earliest period, been deemed worthy 
of a capital punishment. ' He who sheddeth man's blood, by man 
shall shall his blood be slied,' is a general maxim which has received 
the assent of all times and countries. But it is equally certain, that 
even the rude legislatures of former days soon perceived, that the death 
of one may be occasioned by another, without the slayer himself being 
the proper object of the lex talionis. Such an accident may happen 
either by the carelessness of the killer, or through that excess and ve- 
hemence of passion to which humanity is incident. In either case, 
though blamable, he ought not to be confounded with the cool and de- 
liberate assassin, and the species of criminality attaching itself to those 
acts has been distinguished by the term dolus, in opposition to the 
milder term culpa. Again, there may be a third species of homicide, 
in which the perpetrator being the innocent and unfortunate cause of 
casual misfortune, becomes rather an object of compassion than punish- 
ment. There is a fourth kind of man-slaughter, performed in the exe- 
cution of duty or in self-defence. But this our present subject does 
not lead us to consider. We shall, therefore, limit our views to the 
three first, distinguished already as felonious, culpable, and casual. It 
will be our object to prove, first, that should the libel be proved in its 
utmost extent, still it can only authorise the alternative conclusion, viz. 
that the pannel has been guilty of culpable homicide ; and, secondly. 
That taking, on the other hand, the qualifying defences as granted, the 
facts will be mitigated into casual or accidental manslaughter, to which 
the law of Scotland attaches no punishment. 

" Upon the first branch, arguing, viz. ex facie of the libel, the main 
argument has been stated at the bar, viz. that there was no dolus or 
animus occidenali in the pannel's mind at the time of the action, which 
is an essential ingredient in the crime of murder. Animus enim et pro- 
positium malejicia distinguuntur et in delictis animus ailendiiur non 
autem exitus. To this it has been answered on the part of the crown, 
that in various cases no malice against any particular individual is re- 
quired, where the action is of a nature plainly pregnant with danger to 
some one or other of the human species, and would be committed only 
by a lunatic or some singular monster meriting the title of hostis humani 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 85 

generis, which would be the appellation due to a man who should fire 
a loaded giui among a crowd of people, or be guilty of any similar act 
of barbarity. Or, perhaps, the most proper instance is what is told of 
the Malay gamester, who, when rendered desperate by his losses, 
rushes out into the streets, stabbing whoever comes in his way till he 
is overpowered and killed like a wild beast. 

" It is, however, contended, that the action of the pannel falls under 
this alternative, first, from the nature of the weapon made use of; se- 
condly, from its position in a public wynd or close. Upon these two 
circumstances the pursuer builds the judicial presumption, that this 
poor lad was wicked enough totally to disregard the lives of his fellow- 
citizens, and in the pursuit of a very frivolous amusement, to exhibit a 
wanton barbarity worthy of a Marat or a Carrier." 

The paper next proceeds to argue the presumptions in favour of the 
prisoner, arising from the instrument employed being a mere toy con- 
trived for amusement, and from the direction of the muzzle having 
been horizontal, although the piece was placed in front of a rapid ascent, 
citing in support of these views an immense array of English and Ro- 
man authorities. This part of the case is handled at great length, but 
the only passages worthy of notice are those in which he adverts to 
the personal character of his client, and glances at the doctrine of minor 
punishments. 

The description of the prisoner is introduced with considerable tact 
and dexterity. " Adiiiitting there may have been a certain degree of 
culpability in the pannel's conduct, still there is one circumstance 
which pleads sti-ongly in his favour, so as to preclude all presumption 
of dole. This is the frequent practice, Avhether proper or improper, of 
using this amusement in the streets. It is a matter of public notoriety, 
that boys of all ages and descriptions are, or at least till the late very 
proper proclamation of the magistrates, Avere to be seen every evenino- 
in almost every corner of the city, amusing themselves with firearms 
and small cannons, and that without being checked or interfered with. 
When the pannel, a poor ignorant raw lad, lately discharged from a 
ship of war, certainly not the most proper school to learn a prudent 
aversion to unlucky or mischievous practices, observed the sons of 
gentlemen of the first respectability engaged in such amusements, un- 
checked by their parents or by the magistrates, surely it can hardly be 
expected that he should discover that in imitating them in so common 
a practice, he was constituting himself hostis humani generis, a wretch 
the pest and scourge of mankind." 

The sentiment here insinuated is as just as it is beautiful, and what 
follows is no less true or worthy of note. " It is true that no danger- 
ous pastimes ought to be allowed in a city ; but the question occurs 



86 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

here, how are they to be stopped ? Certainly not by punishing with 
death the thoughtless wretch, who, in prosecution of an amusement 
hitherto unchecked, shall first be stained with the blood of a human 
being. This would be equally harsh towards the individual and inef- 
fectual towards the public. Harsh to the individual, because he was 
only doing what was done by a thousand before him, and with as little 
intention of harm as they whose diversion had not been attended with 
the same fatal consequences ; and useless to the public, because such 
practices are not to be checked by a single instance of extreme severity, 
the opportunity of exercising which may not occur once in a century, 
but by an extreme attention to police, and to the distribution of lesser 
punishments proportioned to such transgressions thereof as, if they are 
not usually, may at least, in some instances, be fatal to the inhabitants." 

Turning to the second branch of his subject, the pleader proceeds in 
these terms : — 

" Having now shown that supposing the libel to be proved to its ut- 
most extent, the charge against the pannel amounts to culpable homi- 
cide only, and having fortified this doctrine by authorities drawn from 
the Roman, English, and Scotch books of jurisprudence, it remains to 
show how far a proof of the defences stated for the pannel will alleviate 
the charge even of culpable homicide, and soften it into manslaughter 
per inforhmiam. 

"These defences, it will be recollected, consisted chiefly in a denial 
that the pannel knew there was any thing in the gun capable of doing 
mischief. In these circumstances, it is apprehended there was little 
blame to be attributed to the pannel for not foreseeing or providing 
ao'ainst an accident so uncommon and so extraordinary as that which 
occasioned the fatal catastrophe. There is no doubt attached to every, 
even the most innocent of casual slaughter, a certain degree of blame, 
inasmuch as almost every thing of the kind might have been avoided 
had the slayer exhibited the strictest degree of diligence. A well known 
and authentic story will illustrate the proposition. A young gentleman 
just married to a young lady of ivhtck [jic in orig.'] he was passion- 
ately fond, in aflfectionate trifling presented at her a pistol, of which he 
had drawn the charge some days before. The lady, entering into the 
joke, desired him to fire : he did so, and shot her dead ; the pistol hav- 
ing been charged by his servant without his knowledge. Can any one 
read this story, and feel any emotion but that of sympathy towards the 
unhappy husband 1 Can they ever connect the case with an idea of 
punishment ? Yet, divesting it of these interesting circumstances 
which act upon the imagination, it is precisely that of the pannel at 
your lordship's bar ; and though no one will pretend to say that such 
a homicide is other than casual, yet there is not the slightest question 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 87 

but it might have been avoided had the killer taken the precaution of 
examining his piece. But this is not the degree of culpa which can 
raise a misfortune to the pitch of a crime. It is only an instance that 
no accident can take place w^ithout its afterwards being discovered that 
the chief actor might have avoided committing it had he been gifted with 
the spirit of prophecy, or with such an extreme degree of prudence as is 
almost equally rare. It is therefore sufficient to justify the slayer from 
the crime of culpable homicide, that he has not been guilty of the gross 
negligence called by lawyers culpa lata, which forms the essence of 
homicide, as dolus does that of murder." 

After quoting some English and Scotish authorities, he resumes : 
"In all or most of the amusements here mentioned it is obvious that, in 
order to occasion a fatal catastrophe, there must have been some greater 
or lesser negligence on the part of the killer. In the instance of shoot- 
ing at butts, or at a Inrd, the person killed must have been somewhat 
in the line previous to the discharge of the shot, otherways it could 
never have come near him. The shooter must therefore have been 
guilty ciilpae levis seu hvissimae in firing while the deceased Avas in 
such a situation. In like manner, it is difficult to conceive how death 
should happen in consequence of a boxing or wrestling match without 
some excess upon the part of the killer. Nay, in the exercise of the 
martial amusements of our forefathers, even by royal commission, should 
a champion be slain in running his barriers, or performing his tourna- 
ment, it could scarcely happen without some culpa seu levis seu levissima 
on the part of his antagonist. Yet all these are enumerated in the Eng- 
lish law-books as instances of casual homicide only; and we may there- 
fore safely conclude, that by the law of the sister country a slight de- 
gree of the blame will not suliject the slayer per infortuniam to the pe- 
nalties of culpable homicide." 

We pass over the argimient founded upon an analogous Scotish case, 
and subjoin the concluding paragraphs entire. 

" It is true that by a singular and unforeseen accident there had re- 
mained in the cannon some fragments of the iron bolt with which the 
charge was rammed home ; but as this was without the pannel's know- 
ledge, he was surely in complete bona fide, and as innocent of the con- 
sequences as he would have been had the fatal accident been occasioned 
by the bursting of his gun. There may indeed be a culpa levis or 
levissimi in his conduct, in so far as it is irregular to fire off gunpowder 
in the streets of a city, even for amusement only ; but this degree of 
blame, as has been shown, never can heighten the description of a case 
from casual to culpable homicide. And many important alleviations 
occur in this instance, considering the pannel's situation, — an ignorant 
lad, in the lowest rank in life, just come from on board a man-of-war ; 



88 I-IFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

and considering also the extreme frequency of the practice, which must 
often have fallen under your lordships' observation. 

"This paper, already perhaps toa long, shall now be concluded with 
the following general observations. GuUt, as an object of punishment, 
has its orio-in in the mind and intention of the actor; and therefore, 
where that is wanting, there is no proper object of chastisement. A 
madman, for example, can no more properly be said to be guilty of 
murder than the sword with which he commits it, both being equally 
incapable of intending injury. In the present case, in like manner, al- 
though it ought, no doubt, to be matter of deep sorrow and contrition to 
the pannel that his folly should have occasioned the loss of life to a 
fellow-creature ; yet as that folly can neither be termed malice, nor yet 
doth amount to a gross negligence, he ought rather to be pitied than con- 
demned. The fact done can never bo recalled, and it rests with your 
lordships to consider the case of this unfortunate young man, who has 
served his country in an humble though useful station, — deserved such 
a character as is given him in the letter of his officers, — and been disa- 
bled in that service. You will best judge how (considering he has suf- 
fered a conlinement of six months) he can in humanity be the object of 
further or severer punishment, for a deed of which his mind at least, if 
not his hand, is guiltless. When a case is attended with some nicety, 
your lordships will allow mercy to incline the balance of justice, well 
considering, with the legislator of the east, ' It is better ten guilty should 
escape than that one innocent man should perish in his innocence.' " 

On the 21st of December, the judges pronounced " the indictment, in 
so far as it charges the crime of murder, relevant to infer the pain of 
death," but allowed " the pannel to prove all facts and circumstances 
that might lead to exculpate him or alleviate his guilt," and remitted 
him to " the knowledge of an assize." The ingenuity of the two 
young counsel succeeded in obtaining from the jury {Scottice assize) a 
verdict of " not guilty," by a plurality of voices. 

The " learned brothers," Ferguson and Scott, again appeared in the 
Court of Justiciary, on the 14th of March, 1796, to unite their eilbrts in 
behalf of William Brown, accused of stealing sundry bars of iron from 
a merchant in Leith. No objections were offered to the relevancy of 
the indictment on this occasion, and Scott, as junior counsel, had no 
other duty to perform than that of examining some of the witnesses. 
They were again successful, the jury finding, by a plurality of voices, 
the charge not proven. 

We have already stated, that from the period of Scott's assuming the 
gown till the year 1796, his avocations kept him for the greater part of 
the year a close resident in Edinburgh. His professional studies, and 
the discharge of his official duties in the Speculative Society, as appears 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 89 

from what has been stated above, must have occupied a large proportion 
of his time. His leizure hours were devoted to the amusements of so- 
ciety, of which he partook with all the zest of a sound and healthy con- 
stitution. During the vacations of the court he continued to pay regu- 
lar visits to his friends in Roxburghshire and in Perthshire ; making 
likewise frequent excursions through different parts of Scotland, which 
seem to have left no ti'ace behind them except in his own susceptible 
and retentive mind. But notwithstanding these numerous and distract- 
ing, if not exactly important avocations, the keenness of his appetite for 
books continued unabated. He read whatever came in his way — his- 
tory, poetry, memoirs, romances, travels ; incessantly adding to his 
huge store of miscellaneous information. All this while, however, as 
he himself has told us, although passionately fond of dwelling upon the 
compositions of others, he had never dreamed of an attempt to imitate 
what gave him so much pleasure. But already the fuel was abundantly 
stored up in the garner of his mind, and the torch was now applied 
which was to set " the kiln in a lowe." 

His German studies seem to have been prosecuted rather after a de- 
sultory fashion till the year 179.3 or 1794. In the summer of one or 
other of these years, while Scott was as usual absent " scouring the 
cramp ring," Miss Letitia Aiken (afterwards Mrs. Barbauld) paid a visit 
to Edinburgh. She was hospitably received by the family of Professor 
Stewart, at whose house the young advocate was a frequent and wel- 
come visiter. In such a circle, the conversation naturally turned much 
upon literary topics, in which the elevated, elegant, and accomplished 
mind of the fair stranger enabled her to take an interested and interesting 
part. One evening, the new fashion of German literature furnished the 
theme of discourse ; and Miss Aiken, who was in habits of intimate ac- 
quaintance with Mr. William Taylor of Norwich, the patriarch of the 
admirers of the Teutonic muse in this country, took occasion to produce 
a translation of Burger's ballad of " Leonore," which had recendy been 
translated by that gentleman. After reading the verses, she replaced 
them in her pocket-book, and resisted all the solicitations of her auditors 
to favour them with a copy. 

The ballad poetry of Burger is well qualified to make a powerful im- 
pression upon those who hear it for the first time. When it rises to an 
impassioned strain, it hurries the reader or hearer along with the relent- 
less and unrestrainable speed of the wild horse to which Mazeppa was 
bound. The fevered imagination pants to keep up with the headlong 
hurry of the nervous and rushing versification. The author, too, more 
than any other writer in his own language, so rich in pure and varied 
vowel sounds, is a master of the art of making " the sound an echo to 
the sense." In his amatory and humorous poems, he is at times vul- 

M 



90 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

garly and revoltingly sensual; but when he strikes a higher chord, it is 
with a bold, masculine, if not a refined, touch. His " Hoch tout das 
Lied vom braven Mann" vibrates between the stately melody of the 
deep organ, and the solemn clangour of the cathedral bell. His " Leo- 
nore" has all the impetuous onward haste of the spectral steed. It 
flashes like wildfire along the ghastly path, while above, below, around, 
shapes of fantastic horror twist and interlace their hideous forms like the 
creeping, fantastic imagery of a fevered dream. They fill the atmo- 
sphere even to stifling, and brush us with their clammy surfaces. Much 
of this wild imagery, and much even of the untamed rushing of the versi- 
fication, had been transfused by Mr. Taylor into his translation. No 
wonder, then, that it made a thrilling and enduring impression upon 
Miss Aiken's auditors. 

Before Scott returned to town, this lady set out for England ; but he 
found all his friends in raptures with her good sense and intelligence, 
and loud in their praise of the wonderful ballad with which she had 
made them acquainted. This was a theme which possessed a double 
attraction for Scott. He piqued himself upon being somewhat of a Ger- 
man scholar, and he was a profound admirer of ballad poetry, and a 
hunter after every specimen of it that was known to exist. As if to 
stimulate his curiosity the more, his friends could only furnish him with 
a meagre and liroken account of the story ; and the few lines which 
dwelt in their memory were of a nature calculated to awaken sanguine 
anticipations : — 

Tramp, tramp, along the land they rode, 

Splash, splash, along the sea ; 
Hurrah, the dead can ride apace ! 

Dost fear to ride with me ! 

To an admirer of legends of diablerie, and spirited versification, this 
was a most tantalising morsel. 

The young baUad-hunter was inspired with an anxious desire to see 
the original, a wish which he found it no easy matter to gratify. In the 
year 1794, German works were rarely exposed for sale in London, and 
never in Edinburgh. After a considerable time had intervened, a copy 
of Burger's works was procured for him from Hamburgh, by the ex- 
ertions of the lady of Hugh Scott, Esq. of Harden, his relative and inti- 
mate friend. This lady was of noble German descent, and maintained 
a correspondence with the land of her nativity. Before the book reached 
Scott's hands, an event had occurred which, joined to his admiration of 
its contents, conspired to encourage him to perpetrate the deed of author- 
ship for the first time. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 91 

Matthew Gregory Lewis published, in 1795, his romance called 
" The Monk." This work, which, now that it has lost the attraction 
of novelty, and that its author's talents, in consequence of his subse- 
quent failure as a poet, are more modestly estimated, is seldom talked 
of, created an immense sensation at its first appearance. Lewis had not 
much imagination, but his memory was stored with the wild legends at 
that time so rife in German literature, and the energy of young feeling 
lent a spurious energy to the motley patchwork of his fiction, while a 
warm temperament enabled him to veil behind a luscious drapery of 
fervid passionate description many of its defects. There can be no 
doubt that the indelicate passages which formed the chief ground of ac- 
cusation against " The Monk," after the public began to recover from 
its first intoxication, were at first its principal charms, and it cannot be 
denied, that however reprehensible in a moral point of view, they, as 
breathing more of human feeling than any other passages in the book, 
approach more nearly to the character of genius. Be this, however, as 
it may, the work was at first highly popular, not the less that the author 
was young, a member of parliament, and the son of the under secretary 
at war, at that time a very lucrative appointment. Lewis was conse- 
quently the lion of the day. Charles Fox, induced no doubt in part by 
the knowledge that the young man's views in politics scarcely harmo- 
nised with those entertained by his father, but doubtless in part also by 
his own natural kindliness of disposition, paid him the unusual compli- 
ment of crossing the house of commons to congratulate him upon the 
success of his work. The fashionaljle circles, always agape after any 
novelty that promises to relieve the monotony of their trivial routine, 
seized upon the elegant romance-writer as their own. 

It was about this time, while yet wearing his robes of honour in all 
the gloss of newness, that Lewis became almost a yearly visiter to 
Scotland, attracted chiefly by his friendship for the noble family of Ar- 
gyle. Scott was introduced to him during the earliest of these visits, 
by Lady Charlotte Campbell, (now Bury,) a name not altogether un- 
known in the literary world. Allan Cunningham has preserved Scott's 
naive account of his feelings on this important occasion. " Sir Walter 
told me, the proudest hour of his life was when he was invited to dine 
with Monk Lewis ; he considered it as a sure recognition of his talents ; 
and as he sat down at the table he almost exclaimed with Tamlane — 

" He's own'd amang us a'." 

Similarity of tastes soon ripened this accidental acquaintance into a sort 
of intimacy, Avhich served to rekindle that love of rhyme which had now 
been dormant in Scott's breast for nearly ten years. 



92 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 

One of the chief objects of admiration which the reading pubhc found 
in " The Monk," was the poetry with which the prose narrative was 
interspersed. " It has now passed from recollection," says the subject 
of our narrative, " among the changes of literary taste, but many remem- 
ber as well as I do, the effect produced by the simple and beautiful bal- 
lad of 'Durandarte,' which had the good fortune to be adapted to an air 
of oreat beauty and pathos ; by the ghost ballad of ' Alonzo and Imogene,' 
and by several other beautifid pieces of legendary poetry, which ad- 
dressed themselves, in all the charms of novelty and simplicity, to a 
public who had for a long time been unused to any regale of the kind. 
In his poetry as well as his prose, Mr. Lewis had been a successful 
imitator of the Germans, both in his attachment to the ancient ballad and 
in the love of superstition which they willingly mingle with it. New 
arrangements of the stanza, and a varied construction of verses, were 
also adopted and welcomed as an addition of a new string to the British 
harp. In this respect the stanza in which ' Alonzo the Brave' is writ- 
ten, was greatly admired, and received as an improvement worthy of 
adoption into English poetry." 

Scott soon discovered, upon farther acquaintance with Lewis, that 
this admired prpdigy was greatly inferior to himself in general informa- 
tion. He recalled to his memory his youthful facility in rhyming, and, 
to borrow his own expression, " I suddenly took it into my head to at- 
tempt the style by which he had raised himself to fame." In this mood 
the edition of Burger commissioned for him from Hamburgh by Mrs. 
Scott found him on its arrival. The original of " Leonore," he found 
surpassed even his highly raised expectations. The book had only 
been a few hours in his possession, when, in his haste to give vent to 
the delighted sensations it had awakened, he addressed a letter to a 
friend, in which he gave an animated account of the poem, and pro- 
mised to furnished him with a translation into English ballad verse. 
To this self-imposed task he set himself " with right good will," im- 
mediately after supper, and he had completed it by day-break next 
morning, by which time he had succeeded in working himself up into 
rather an uncomfortable state of excitement. 

The success of his attempt induced him to repeat it with some others 
of Burger's ballads. The friends to whom he communicated the fruits 
of his labours, felt and expressed an interest in the revival of a species 
of poetry to which they had previously been almost total strangers. 
Frequent applications were made to the young poet for copies of his 
translations and paraphrases, (for the latter term is more appropriate 
than the former to some of his versions,) and the trouble which these 
occasioned, conjoined with the urgency of several of his admirers, in- 
duced the coy but scarcely reluctant author, to send a selection from his 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 93 

productions to the press. " In 1796," he playfully says, " the present 
author was prevailed on, by the request of friends, to indulge his own 
vanity by publishing the translations of 'Leonore, with that of the Wild 
Huntsman,' in a thin quarto." The title page bore no author's or 
translator's name, being simply " The Chase ; and William and Ellen. 
Edinburgh, Manners and Miller, 1796." This was the first publica- 
tion from the pen of Walter Scott. Unconsciously he had cast the die 
upon the hazard of which was set his future fortune. 

In perusing these metrical essays, for they deserve no higher tide, we 
are struck with the similarity of the melody of the versification to that 
of Percy's Hermit of Warksworth. It has in the narrative and other 
less impassioned passages, the same well turned not " linked sweetness ;" 
the same mixture of plainness with a polish which is carried even to 
monotony. Such a verse as this might almost pass, were we to judge 
by sound alone, for an extract from the graceful poem we have named : — 

Our gallant host was homeward bound, • 

With many a song of joy ; 
Green waved the laurel in each plume, 

The badge of victory. 

And the following possesses a still more striking similarity. 

The martial band is past and gone, 

She rends her raven hair. 
And in distraction's bitter mood, 

She weeps with wild despair. 

These stanzas likewise resemble the poetry of Dr. Percy in a still more 
essential characteristic. Like it, they have the sul)dued unambitious 
style of the old ballad, without its simplicity. The language is full of 
the conventional abstractions which, from being the hoarded treasure of 
the study, have, by slow degrees, become the current medium of social 
intercourse. It wants the picturesque naivete which charms us in an 
old song. It is the simplicity of muslin, not of the " hoddin gray." 

'* When we come, however, (in " William and Helen," from which 
our examples have been selected,) to the supernatural portion of the 
story, we find indications of a more nervous turn of mind. The verse 
is often cramped and harsh, but this is evidently the result of an attempt 
to change the cloying sweetness of the measure for a more energetic 
and rapid descant harmonising with the theme. The strain into which 
the ballad starts when Helen mounts behind her spectral bridegroom, is 
perhaps the happiest example of this juvenile awkwardness, in which 
the discerning and experienced eye may detect the first efforts of a loftier 



94 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

and more daring gracefulness. It is like the ludicrous motions of the 
raw recruit, ungraceful if contrasted with his free gestures when wield- 
ing his spade or mattock, but yet the first step to a more manly and 
self-possessed deportment. 

" Busk, busk, and boune ! Thou mount'st behind, 

Upon my black barb steed ; 
O'er stock and stile, a hundred miles 

We haste to bridal bed." 

" To-night — to-night a hundred miles ! — 

Oh, dearest William, stay ! 
The bell strikes twelve, dark, dismal hour ! 

Oh wait my love till day !" 

" Look here — look here — the moon shines clear, 

Full fa»t I ween we ride ; 
Mount and away ! for ere the day 

We reach our bridal bed. 

" The black barb snorts, the bridle rings ; 

Haste, busk and boune, and seat thee ! 
The feast is made, the chamber spread, 

The bridal guests await thee !" 

Strong love prevailed. She busks, she bounes, 

She mounts the barb behind. 
And round her darling William's waist 

Her lily arms she twined. 

And hurry ! hurry off they rode, 

As fast as fast as might be : 
Spurned from the courser's thundering heel, 

The flashing pebbles flee. 

And on the right, and on the left, 

Ere they could snatch a view. 
Fast, fast, each mountain, mead, and plain, 

And cot and castle flew. 

" Sit fast — dost fear ? — The moon shines clear — 

Fleet rides my barb — keep hold ! 
Fear'st thou ?" " O no !" she faintly said ; 

" But why so stern and cold ? 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 95 

" What yonder rings? What yonder sings ? 

Why shrieks the owlet gray?" 
" 'Tis death-bell's clang, his funeral song, 

The body to the clay. 

" With song and clang, at morrow's dawn 

Ye may inter the dead ; 
To-night I ride with my young bride, 

To deck our bridal bed. 

" Come with thy choir, thou coffin'd guest, 

To swell our nuptial song ! 
Come, priest, to bless our marriage-feast ! 

Come all, come all along !" 

Ceased clang and song ; down sunk the bier ; 

The shrouded corpse arose ; — 
And hurry, hurry ! all the train 

The thundering steed pursues. 

And forward, forward ; on they go. 

High snorts the straining steed ; 
Thick pants the rider's labouring breath, 

As headlong on they speed. 

" Oh William, why this savage haste ? 

And where the bridal bed ?" 
" 'Tis distant far."—" Still short and stern ?' 

" 'Tis narrow, trustless maid." 

"No room for me ?" — " Enough for both ;— 

Speed, speed, my barb, thy course." 
O'er thundering bridge, through foaming surge, 

He drove the furious horse. 

Tramp ! tramp ! along the land they rode ; 

Splash, splash ! along the sea ; 
The steed is wight, the spur is bright. 

The flashing pebbles flee. 

Fled past on right and left, how fast 

Each forest, grove, and bower ; 
On right and left fled past how fast, 

Each city, town, and tower. 



96 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

" Dost fear ? dost fear 1 — The moon shines clear ; 

Dost fear to ride with me ? 
Hurrah ! hurrah! the dead can ride !;" — 

" Oh, WiUiani, let them be !" 

" See there, see there ! What yonder swings 
And cracks 'mid whistling rain?" — 

Gibbet and steel, the accursed wheel ; 
A murd'rer in his chain. 

" Follow ! thou felon, follow here, 

To bridal bed we ride ; 
And thou shalt prance a fitter dance 

Before me and my bride." 

And hurry, hurry ! clash, clash, clash ! 

The wasted form descends ; 
And fleet as wind, through hazel bush, 

The wild career attends. 

Tramp, tramp ! along the land they rode ! 

Splash, splash ! along the sea ; 
The scourge is red, the spur drops blood, 

The flashing pebbles flee. 

How fled what moonshine faintly show'd, 

How fled what darkness hid ! 
How fled the earth beneath their feet, 

The heaven above their head ! 

"Dost fear? dost fear? The moon shines clear. 

And well the dead may ride ; 
Does faithful Helen fear for them ?" 

" O leave in peace the dead !" 

" Barb, barb ! methinks I hear the cock ; 

The sand will soon be run ; 
Barb ! barb ! I smell the morning air, 

The race will soon be done." 

Tramp, tramp ! along the land they rode, 

Splash ! splash ! along the sea ; 
The scourge is red, the spur drops blood, 

The flashing pebbles flee. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 97 

" Hurrah ! hurrah ! well ride the dead ; 

The bride, the bride is come ! 
And soon we reach the bridal bed, 

For, Helen, here's my home !" 

This translation can give us no idea of the creative power of the 
writer's imagination at the time when it was executed. The passage 
however which has just been quoted, although frequently deficient both 
in rhyme and rhythm, shows by its intensity that his emotions were 
sufficiently irritable and susceptible to be hurried along by the horrors 
of the ghastly ride. It must have been an hour of delight so exquisite 
as to border on pain, when the future bard, shuddering beneath the 
vague horrors which crept over him curdling his blood, yet proud of 
the power he felt of expressing them in verse, trembling with excite- 
ment, beheld the last flashes of his expiring taper mingle with the cold 
gray of the dawn, and almost dared to think that he was a poet. A 
succession of such stimulating moments has been the death of many a 
fiery soul, which " o'er-informed its tenement of clay." It was well 
for the unfledged author that the Edinburgh Review was not then in 
existence to make what was so sweet in the mouth " bitter in the 
belly." Had the critic who handled so roughly "the Hours of Idle- 
ness," been then exulting in the pride of his brilliant and withal some- 
Ou! what petulant genius, the barrister of five and twenty would have been 
as cavalierly treated as the noble minor. But he did not then exist to 
inflict the enduring consciousness of the world's laugh, a drawback 
upon the inspired emotions of the midnight jubilee, not unlike the re- 
tributive headach which follows the excess of a deep carouse. 

On the part of the public, however, the young author suffered the 
less keen but scarcely less mortifying infliction of total neglect. A 
multitude of translations of these two poems appeared at the same time 
with those of Scott, executed by writers whose names were already 
familiar to the public ear. The adventure, to use his own words, 
" proved a dead loss, and a great part of the edition was condemned to 
the service of the trunk-maker." And if the critical portion of the 
press left him unmolested, there were not wanting good-natured friends 
to supply its omission in a private way. One lady, to whom he had 
presented a copy of his book, when asked by him, with all the solici- 
tude of a young author, how she liked it, frankly replied, "not very 
much." Not satisfied with this reply, he took up the book, and read 
the ballads aloud to her, hoping probably that by the aid of intonation 
he might be able to impress her with a more correct sense of their 
merits. Greatly to his discomfiture, however, he found, on closing 
the volume, her opinion unaltered. This eager search after approba- 



98 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

tion from any quarter to bolster up his hesitating confidence in his own 
powers, contrasts strangely with his indifference at a later period of life, 
when, satiated with applause, he never made the least attempt to see a 
review, and often never heard or saw a word that was said on the sub- 
ject. Praise had become by that time his daily food, the breath of his 
nostrils, and was inhaled with a less keen relish, although its privation 
would doubtless liave been more keenly felt. 

He was not daunted however by this first rebuff. His was one of 
those manly souls which repeat a baffled effort with increased energy, 
from the mere shame of any thing like defeat. " I was coldly received," 
he said long afterwards, "by strangers, but my reputation began rather 
to increase among my own friends, and on the whole, I was more bent 
to show the world that it had neglected something worth notice, than 
to be affronted by its indifference. Or rather, to speak candidly, I 
found pleasure in the literary labour in which I had, almost by accident, 
become engaged, and laboured less in the hope of pleasing others, 
though certainly without despair of doing so, than in the pursuit of a 
new and agreeable amusement to myself." In short, he possessed an 
indomitable spirit, which neglect only stung to more daring adventure, 
the almost unfailing source of great achievements. 

In tracing the development of Scott's literary character, we have 
naturally kept his social adventures in the back ground : nor is there 
in reality much relating to them at this early period that deserves to be 
recorded. A lady, to whom we are indebted for some interesting traits^ 
represents him as quiet and unobtrusive in mixed company, "rather 
dull if any thing." From an eminent artist we learn, that even in 
youth Scott was i-emarkable for suavity of manner, and his anxiety to 
keep others in good humour by avoiding any thing that could hurt 
their feelings, or by appearing to enter Avith keenness into their favour- 
ite pursuits. He used generally to spend his Sundays in the family of 
the gentleman from whom we have this information, and the children 
used to look forward anxiously to the return of the day. No juvenile 
enterprise was concluded upon without his advice, nothing was regarded 
as good of its kind which did not meet with his approbation. Our in- 
formant, warming as he recalled the early emotions of a friendship 
which endured to the last, wound up his recital with the words, " On 
Sundays we had him all to ourselves." 

Here closes the preparatory stage of our hero's life. He has now 
served out what Goethe in his romance terms his apprenticeship, and 
his time as a journeyman. We are henceforth to contemplate him as 
an author free of his guild, and set up for himself. He brings to aid 
him, as we have attempted to show in the preceding pages, an im- 
mense store of information, and as appears from his pleading in the 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 99 

case of Niven, a rich power of matured reflection, from his translation 
of " William and Helen," intense energy of feeling and no mean play 
of fancy. The young oak is shooting out into a form prophetic of gi- 
gantic growth : the river is deepening and broadening as it flows on- 
wards. And not only does the mind expand in strength and stature, 
the whirl of a busier world is drawing it into a more turbulent vortex. 
The subject of our narrative has outgrown the narrow sphere of domes- 
tic retirement, and is about to be claimed as a denizen of the state. Our 
rashly undertaken task increases in difficulty as we advance. 



IQO LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM THE PUBLICATION OF " WILLIAM AND HELEN," TO THE PUBLICA- 
TION OF THE "LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL," 1796 1805. 

The state of political feeling in Scotland at the period when Scott 
entered upon manhood, as materially influencing the development of 
his mind, the formation of his character, and his status in society, ought 
not to be passed over unnoticed in the history of his life. The sub- 
ject is difficult, and every mode of discussing it liable to misconstruc- 
tion, but the attempt must be made. 

After the revolution in 1688, the homely institutions and ritual of 
the presbyterian church were established throughout the country. The 
influence of a great portion of the landed aristocracy was neutralised by 
the state of seclusion to which their hostility to the new order of things, 
and the sjirveillance under which they were necessarily held, doomed 
them. The union of the kingdoms, by removing even the shadow of 
the court, the natural sphere of a privileged nobility, to London, at- 
tracted thither the portion of the aristocracy friendly to the new govern- 
ment, and by this means the local administration of Scotland was more 
than ever thrown into the hands of the mercantile and professional 
classes. The abolition of hereditary jurisdictions completed the trans- 
fer of power. By that important enactment a transition was completed, 
in virtue of which the local administration of law and finance, and the 
power of enforcing police regulations, passed from the haughty titled 
families of Scotland to the small land owners and wealthy merchants, 
aided in the discharge of their duties by the salaried officials of the 
crown. Beneath this new order of things, trade, favoured by a num- 
ber of concurrent circumstances, made rapid advances ; and with the 
growth of wealth, the external aspect of the country, the. education of 
the community, and the establishment of a steady police, continued to 
make progress. 

There was something striking in the extreme meekness Avith which 
the middle classes of Scotland bore their augmented power and worldly 
importance. A deep-rooted traditional respect for that aristocracy, with 
which they so seldom came into contact, retained possession of their 
minds. They were contented with comfort without aspiring to inde- 
pendence. Bearing the heavy burden of preserving the tranquillity and 
evolving the capabilities of their country, they were perfectly satisfied 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 101 

with the liberty to do this in the name, and as it were with the gracious 
permission of their betters. They pocketed the substantial benefits, 
and allowed the honour to be borne by aristocratical shoulders ; resem- 
bling in this the savage who attributes to the virtues of some supersti- 
tiously venerated charm — some old brass button, or rag of red cloth — 
the success in the chase which he owes to his own quick untiring eye, 
and fleet unwearied foot. Even the Jacobite gentry, whose restless 
intrigues threatened hourly the tranquillity and growing wealth of the 
country, were regarded by the honest burghers with some degree of 
timidity, it is true, yet with a sort of sneaking kindness, owing much 
to their frank though supercilious deportment, and more to tlieir ances- 
tral pretensions. In short, every person seemed to be animated with a 
good humoured spirit of acquiescence in things as they were. Scot- 
land was in the estimation of the whiggish n\iddle classes le vrai roy- 
aiime de Cocagne, where, if every thing was not exactly for the best, 
it was yet so good that it could not well be better. Even the kirk, 
which, in the days of persecution, had contracted a gaunt look and acid 
expression, 

" A savage air which round her hung 
As of a dweller out of doors" — 

a reflection of those bleak wilds and morasses where she was driven to 
seek shelter far from the busy haunts of men — became sleek, comfort- 
able, and tolerant. Her face plumped out like Lismahago's lanthern 
jaws inthe sunshine of Miss Tabitha Bramble's smiles, and amid the 
atmosphere of her brother's hospitable table. 

Matters stood thus at the accession of George III., or even better, 
for by that time the danger likely to arise from the claims of the Stuart 
dynasty, existed only in a dream-like remembrance. Scions of the old 
Jacobite families were instinctively creeping back to the court, and in- 
sinuating themselves into the affections of the young monarch. His 
fii-st favourite, Bute, found the Scots patient of rule on the part of a 
minister. He found too their local magistracies either in the hands of 
the crown, or of a limited number of crown vassals, or in a still more 
limited number of self-elected citizens, and apt to be organised into one 
huge government burgh. The attacks of Wilkes and others upon Bute 
were occasionally sharpened by side-long glances at his country, and 
thus in the quarrel between the court on the one hand, and the wayward 
and narrow-minded perhaps, but still sturdy and honest independent 
party of London, the Scots embraced the quarrel of the king and his 
minister as a national cause. That the American patriots were in many 
instances on an intimate footing with the whigs of London, and that 



102 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

their cause was eagerly defended by that party, would perhaps have 
been of itself sufficient to throw Scotland into the scale opposed to the 
infant liberties of the colonies ; and this inclination was strengthened 
by other motives. The merchants of Glasgow had embarked largely 
in the Virginian trade, which was carried on by considerable advances 
on the part of the traders on this side of the Atlantic, slowly replaced 
by the returns of colonial produce from the other. Terror, lest the 
large amount of debt due by Virghiia should be held canceled by the 
emancipation of the colonies, prompted the sons of St. Mungo to take 
an active part against the Americans. The surplus population of the 
Highlands, not yet reduced to habits of regular industry, and more 
eager for martial employment than scrupulous about the cause, flocked 
in like manner around the royal standard. In short, the sentiments of 
the whole population of Scotland glowed against the Americans with 
all the fervour of ignorant and passionate partisans. 

The douce friends of the revolution establishment, who had long 
wished to cast over their consciousness of plebeian descent the mantle 
of patrician intimacy, and the old Jacobite party which had grown 
weary of devotion to an obsolete system, attachment to which precluded 
them from taking a share in the active business of hfe, had now found 
the point of reunion after which they had long sighed — loyalty to the 
existing government. It was agreed on both sides to set up the ex- 
isting government as the golden calf of their worship, without institut- 
ing too curious inquiries into its claims to that honour, or the character 
of the ritual which was to be adopted. The tories winked hard at the 
defective hereditary title of the reigning dynasty, and abstained from 
sneers at the "bits o' bailie bodies." The whigs learned to adopt the 
same slang of bigoted and exaggerated loyalty, which their new com- 
peers had lately been wont to lavish on the exiled family. In short, 
freed from the superincumbent load of a real aristocracy, the Jacobite 
cadets, and the small whig authorities, erected themselves into a body 
for supplying its place. They were deficient, it is true, in that free 
bearing which the consciousness of almost inexhaustible wealth and 
personal irresponsibility is found to confer ; they were still more defi- 
cient in those external graces which seem to be acquired nowhere but 
in the purlieus of a court; their professional avocations tainted their 
conversation with the pedantry of law, trade, or agriculture. But, in 
return, they reckoned among their number many ripe and excellent 
scholars. And in one matter they might have matched the proudest 
and most far descended aristocracy, — their lordly and supercilious con- 
tempt for the intellect, rights, and feelings of the poorer classes. This 
is the worst, but also the most inevitable effect of erecting any body of 
men into a privileged caste. They learn to disregard the claims of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 103 

those beneath them to a common humanity. Men who in their own 
circles are aUve to the finest and tenderest impulses of the heart, can 
treat with levity and coldness the sufferings of the poor. This is mere 
tlioughtlessness at first, but habit petrifies it into tyranny. 

Circumstances had thus conspired to create a numerous petty aristo- 
cracy in Scotland, when the heart-burnings spread over Europe by the 
eruption of the French revolution, called out its most repulsive features 
into broad light. The upper classes in Scotland re-echoed the war- 
whoop of Burke and the Duke of Brunswick with a ferocity elsewhere 
unparalleled. Not only the adherents of the principles of parliamentary 
reform were branded without distinction as democrats, levelers, and 
atheists ; the timid and somewhat servile class of burgh reformers, who 
delivered philippics, and laboured busily to eradicate a few of the pus- 
tules which indicated a deeply rooted disease, while angrily disclaiming 
any connection with those who more wisely sought to purify the whole 
system, were notwitlistanding classed among the political Parias. The 
war with France rendered the adherents of existing establishments yet 
more jealous of the politicians whose designs their fears and fancies 
had painted in such hideous colours. The pulpit even, and the bench, 
places which ought to be sacred from passion or prejudice, caught the 
frenzy ; and while political harangues were delivered from the one, the 
most unfair constructions of evidence, the most unconstitutional doc- 
trines, were promulgated from the other, in the course of the various 
trials for sedition and other oflences, instituted at the command of a 
jealous and persecuting government. 

The mind of Scott, trained as it had been by circumstances, was ex- 
actly of the kind to be carried away by the prevailing excitement. He 
was surrounded by those who, for the sake of peace and quiet, were 
averse to all innovation ; the necessity of which they did not feel. In 
his mental constitution, the imaginative predominated over the reason- 
ing powers, and his earliest impressions were dreams of high-born 
knights and warlike deeds. The leveling tenets of the reformers 
shocked all his preconceived notions. His passions were awakened 
and heightened by the fervid tone of all around him. The sacrifices of 
Muir, Gerald, and other victims of power, conspired but to heighten 
his passions, as the sleuth-hound is rendered fiercer by the sight and 
smell of blood. Blindly, eagerly, and devotedly, he threw himself into 
the ranks of the indiscriminating defender of old abuses ; and with the 
tenacity of purpose which he somewhere tells us has been characteristic 
of his family, he continued through life faithful to the cause of his 
adoption, although (as we shall have frequent occasion to point out in 
the sequel of our narrative) his more matured judgment often teased 
him with sceptical questionings regarding its justice. 



104 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

The first opportunity aiibrded to Scott of proving his ardent attach- 
ment to his principles, was of a kind pecidiarly captivating to a mind 
of a poetical turn, and a temper which felt " the old riding blood hot at 
his heart," although 

" In Iiim the savage virtues of the race, 
Revenge and all ferocious thoughts, were dead." 

It was his share in the organization of a corps of volunteers for national 
defence, under the prospect of invasion. There was a feeling of ge- 
nerous devotion in such a task, which gilded over, and for a time dis- 
pelled the mean instigations of party spirit. The integrity of the soil 
was threatened, and men of all political principles, disregarding the 
original cause of the danger, flocked around their country's standard. 
Edinburgh alone furnished a force of 3000 armed and disciplined volun- 
teers, including a regiment of cavalry from the city and county, and 
two corps of artillery, each capable of serving twelve guns. Nor was 
the spirit confined to the capital. It spread through the land ; and it is 
an interesting coincidence, that while the well-knit youthful nerves of 
Scott were grasping the sabre hilt in Edinburgli, the wasting and at- 
tenuated frame of Burns was toiling in tlie ranks at Dumfries. The 
earliest original production of Scott that has been preserved, is his 
" War-song of the Edinburgh Light Dragoons ;" and one of the latest 
lights of Burns' song is, "Does haughty Gaul invasion threat?" 

But for an imagination which, like that of Scott, had ever found its 
chief amusement in dwelling upon legends of deeds of arms, this bus- 
tling and arming for the fight had a charm beyond what it possessed for 
his more prosaic companions. An anecdote which we have from a 
lady who witnessed the scene, will best show the eagerness with which 
he trampled upon all hindrances interposed between him and the gratifi- 
cation of his martial ardour. When the yeomanry were first embodied, 
he was rejected in consequence of his lameness, at which he was much 
distressed. It happened that some of the most enthusiastic promoters 
of this volunteer corps dined not long afterwards at the house of a friend 
where he was on a visit. The subject of his wish to join the corps 
was renewed, while the party were standing in the open air enjoying 
the breeze ; and Walter, on being again assured that his lameness was 
an insurmountable bar to his admission, threw himself up and caught 
the couple-leg of an out-house. After allowing himself to hang there 
for a considerable space, he turned to his fiiends with a tear in his eye, 
and said, that " although he had a bad leg, there was not a better pair 
of arms among them." Farther obstacles were interposed by some of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 105 

his more sedate friends, on tlie ground of tlie incompatibility of military 
duties with his professional avocations, but proved equally unavailing. 

" He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar," says our country proverb; 
and, despite of every hindrance, Scott forced his way into the post of 
quarter-master to the two regiments of Edinburgh Light Horse. He 
tells us somewhere in his writings, that he was fortunate enough to be 
useful in the preservation of discipline, which must have been no easy 
matter, in a corps consisting almost entirely of young and high-spirited 
men. We learn from other sources, that so eager were the brothers in 
arms to make themselves masters of their new profession, that they 
drilled daily at six a. m. in the neighbourhood of Jocks Lodge, and 
had another long drill at a later period of the day. Scott was always 
present and always active. When off duty, his mind remained still 
engrossed with the duties of his office. No stray article of military 
furniture which might prove useful in completing the equipment of his 
corps escaped his eye. A lady distantly connected witli his family 
still relates with great glee, his chaffering with her for some sabres and 
other accoutrements that had belonged to her brother. The services 
which he rendered to his regiment by his unalterable good humour, his 
zeal in preventing or soldering up quarrels, and his promotion of hi- 
larity on festive occasions, were scarcely less important than his devo- 
tion to the business of the corps. An anecdote corroborative of this 
opinion is told by the indefatigable preserver of the Traditions of Edin- 
burgh : — 

" The commander of the corps, as not unusually happened, was 
rather ignorant of the movements of a cavalry regiment, and therefore 
required to bring with him to the drill a paper containing the accus- 
tomed words of command in their regular series. One unfortunate 
morning — a very cold one — the officer came unfurnished with this list, 
and was of course desperately nonplussed. He could positively do 
nothing : the troop stood for twenty minutes quite motionless, while 
he was vainly endeavouring to find the means of supplying the requi- 
site document. At this moment, while the men were all as cold as 
their own stirrup-irons, and more like a set of mutes at a funeral than 
a redoubted band of volunteers against Gallic invasion, Sir Walter came 
limping up, and said to a few of the other officers, in his usual gravely 
jocular manner, ' I think the corpse is rather long in lifting this morn- 
ing,' a drollery so pat to the moment, as to set the whole off in almost 
inextinguishable laughter." 

In the " war-song," however, to which we alluded above, we pos- 
sess the least perishable record of his military ardour, and therefore let 
it stand here as part and portion of his biography. 

9 



106 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

To horse ! to horse ! the standard flies, 

The bugles sound the call : 
The Gallic navy stem the seas, 
The voice of battle's on the breeze. 

Arouse ye one and all. 

From high Dun-Edin's towers wc come, 

A band of brotliers true ; 
Our casques the leopard's spoils surround. 
With Scotland's hardy thistle crown'd, 

Wc boast the red and blue.* 

Though tamely crouch to Gallia's frown 

Dull Holland's tardy train 
Their ravish'd toys though Romans mourn. 
Though gallant Switzers vainly spurn, 

And foaming gnaw the chain ; 



^to to' 



Oh ! had they mark'd the avenging call 

Their brethren's murder gave, 
Disunion ne'er their ranks had mown, 
Her patriot valour desperate grown. 
Sought freedom in the gi-ave ! 

Shall we too bend the stubborn head, 

In freedom's temple born, 
Dress our pale cheek in timid smile 
To hail a master in our isle, 

Or brook a victor's scorn ? 

No ! Though destruction o'er the land 

Come pouring as a flood. 
The sun that sees our falling day. 
Shall mark our sabres' deadly sway. 

And set that night in blood. 

For gold let Gallia's legions flght. 

Or plunder's bloody gain ; 
Unbribed, unbought, our SAVords we draw, 
To guard our king, to fence our law. 

Nor shall their edge be vain. 

* The royal colours. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 107 

If ever breath of British gale 

Shall fan the tri-eolour, 
Or foot step of invader rude, 
With rapine foul, and red with ])lood, 
' Pollute our happy shore ; 

Then farewell home ! and farewell friends ! 

Adien each tender tie ! 
Resolved we mingle in the tide, 
Where charging squadrons furious ride, 

To conquer or to die. 

To horse ! to horse ! the sabres gleam ; 

High sounds our bugle's call ; 
Combined by honour's sacred tie. 
Our word is Laws and Liberty J 

March forward one and all ! 

There is an unamiable propensity in most men to take every first 
attempt of one of their own standing to distinguish himself above his 
fellows as a personal insult, " What right has he to pretend to do 
what they cannot?" Keeping this feeling in remembrance, we are no 
ways astonished to learn that Scott's presumption in daring to write a 
song for the corps gave huge offence to some of his companions in 
arms. They did not venture to criticise it, although being in reality a 
mere extemporaneous effort, something like a speech after dinner, it 
may be obnoxious enough to ill-natured remarks. They ridiculed the 
idea of his writing a song at all. The gentleman from whom we de- 
rive this information distinctly remembers a large party of the officers 
of the corps dining together at Musselburgh, where the chief amuse- 
ment at a certain period of the night consisted in repeating with bur- 
lesque empliasis the initial line. " To horse!" to horse !" and laugh- 
ing at this " attempt of Scott's" as a piece of supreme absurdity. 

For the annoyance he might feel at the paltry malice of these coarse 
and vulgar minds, he was amply recompensed by the strengthening 
attachment of earlier, and the acquisition of new friends. Among the 
former were Sir William Rae, late Lord Advocate, and Mr. Colin 
Mackenzie ; among the latter Mr. Skene of Rubislaw,* a gentleman 

* In the introduction to one of the cantos of Marmion, (published in 1808) the 
author reminds this friend, — 

Eleven years we now may tell 

Since we have known each other well ; 



108 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

whose accomplishments as a draughtsman, and zeal in promoting a 
taste for the fine arts in Scotland, entitle him to a respectful tribute 
here. His activity and perseverance likewise attracted the attention of 
Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, and Mr. Henry Dundas, one of the secre- 
taries of state ; both lively promoters of the scheme of national defence 
for Scotland. The former cultivated his personal intimacy ; the latter 
marked him for an accomplished and energetic young man, whose ser- 
vices as a political partisan it might be worth while to conciliate by 
professional advancement. 

Altogether the portion of Scott's life which he devoted to a study of 
military matters was one of intense enjoyment, and to which he often 
recurs both in a serious and a playful mood. Gibbon tells us that his 
experience of military movements acquired in the Hampshire militia, 
was of vital service to him in elucidating the Roman system of tactics ; 
and perhaps we may not be going too far in attributing to the scraps 
of strategical knowledge picked up during his career as quarter master, 
Scott's skill in marshaling battles and conducting sieges in his works 
of fiction. The following passage from one of the earlier chapters of 
Waverley has every feature of a picture from the life. 

" MeanAvhile his military education proceeded. Already a good 
horseman, he was now initiated into the arts of the manege, which, 
when carried to perfection, almost realise the fable of the Centaur, the 
guidance of the horse appearing to proceed from the rider's mere voli- 
tion, rather than from the use of any apparent and external-signal of 
motion. He received also instructions in his field duty ; but I must 
own, that when his first ardour was past, his progress fell short in the 
latter part of what he wished and expected. The duty of an officer, 
the most imposing of all others to the inexperienced mind, because ac- 
companied with so much outward pomp and circumstance, is in its 
essence a very dry and abstract task, depending chiefly upon arithme- 
tical combinations, requiring much attention, and a cool and reasoning 
head to bring them into action. Our hero was liable to fits of absence, 
in which his blunders excited some mirth, and called down some re- 
proof. This circumstance impressed with him a painful sense of infe- 
riority in those qualities which appeared most to deserve and obtain 
regard in his new profession. He asked himself in vain, why his eye 
could not judge of distance or space so well as those of his companions ; 
why his head was not always successful in disentangling the various^ 



Since, riding side by side, our hand 
First drew tlie voluntary brand ; 
And sure, through many a varied scene 
Unkindness never came between. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. IO9 

partial movements necessary to effect an evolution ; and why his me- 
mory, so alert upon most occasions, did not correctly retain technical 
phrases, and minute points of etiquette or field discipline. Waverley 
was naturally modest, and therefore did not fall into the egregious mis- 
take of supposing such minuter points of military duty beneath his no- 
tice, or conceiting himself to be born a general, because he made an 
indifferent subaltern. The truth was, that the vague and unsatisfactory 
course of reading which he had pursued, working upon a temper na- 
turally retired and abstracted, had given him tiiat wavering and unset- 
tled habit of mind, which is most averse to study and riveted attention." 
In the Antiquary we find a playful account of the tone and colourino- 
lent to society by the volunteering ardour of this period, in one of those 
happy passages where an author pretends to laugh at that which he 
truly and warmly cherishes. Major Dalgetty, picking his teeth and 
pondering over " the abstmse calculations necessary for drawing up a 
brigade of two thousand men on the principle of extracting the square 
root," is in all probability a good-humoured caricature of some of the 
writer's own after-diimer reveries. And in the introduction to the 
fourth canto of Marmion, dedicated to Mr. Skene, we find a pleasing 
description of the evening festivities of the bold Light Dragoons of 
Edinburgh, after quoting which, we must quit this theme for the present. 

And blithesome nights, too, have been ours. 

When winter stript the summer's bowers ; 

Careless we heard, what now I hear. 

The wild blast sighing deep and drear, 

When fires were bright, and lamps beam'd gay. 

And ladies tuned the lovely lay ; 

And he was held a laggard soul. 

Who shunned to quaff the sparkling bowl. 

Then he, whose absence we deplore, 

Who breathes the gale of Devon's shore. 

The longer missed, bewailed the more ; 

And thou, and I, and dear-loved Rae, 

And one whose name I may not say, — 

For not Mimosa's tender tree 

Shrinks sooner from the touch than he, 

In merry chorus well combined. 

With laughter drowned the whistling wind. 

Mirth was within ; and Care without 

Might gnaw her nails to hear our shout. 

Not but amid the buxom scene 

Some gi-ave discourse might intervene — : 



no LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Of the good horse that bore him best, 
His shoulder, hoof, and arching crest ; 
For Uke mad Tom's, our chiefest care 
Was horse to ride, and weapon wear. 
Such nights we've had, and though the game 
Of manhood seem more sober, tame, 
And though the field-day or the drill 
Seem less important now — yet still 
Such may we hope to share again. 

Scott was far from allowing these seductive pursuits to distract his 
attention from his professional avocations. He continued to be a regu- 
lar attendant upon such meetings of the Faculty of Advocates as were 
held for transacting the private business of the body. At the annual 
election of office-bearers in 1797, we find him continued on the list of 
Curators of the Library, and likewise nominated one of the examinators, 
whose duty it is to test the acquirements of civil law, of such individu- 
als as apply for admission into the Faculty. In the month of July of 
the same year we find him assisting his friend Mr. Ferguson in a trial 
before the Court of Justiciary. The case was that of a person of the 
name of Potts, accused of a ve.iy aggravated act of house-breaking and 
robbery. The trial Avas long and complicated, but as Scott took scarcely 
any active share in it, we pass over the details as foreign to our sub- 
ject, simply adding, that the prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced 
to suffer the last penalty of the law. 

On the 7th and 11th of October, Scott was engaged in a series of 
trials, which, as serving to throw some light on the temper and circum- 
stances of the peasantry in the South of Scotland at that period, merit 
more particular attention. By an act of parliament passed in the year 
1797, with a view to facilitate the raising and embodying of a militia 
force in Scotland, it was ordained, that the schoolmaster of every parish 
should make yearly returns to the lieutenancy of the county of the per- 
sons liable to serve. The burden of military service fell necessarily 
upon the poor and industrious classes who could not aiford to provide 
substitutes, and whose families were in many instances left destitute by 
the removal of those whose labour had provided for them. By the rich 
the enactment was easily evaded. The iniquity of such an arrange- 
ment was not likely to escape notice at a period when disaffection per- 
vaded the labourhig classes to so wide an extent. On the other hand, 
the passionate determination of the privileged orders to regard all mur- 
murs from the people as a crime, increased their zeal for the enforce- 
ment of the obnoxious law. The indignation of the oppressed pea- 
santry was fostered and matured by the underhand exertions of some 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 1 1 1 

of the more violent of that sect of poUticians whose pubUc expression of 
their sentiments had been forcibly prevented by the suppression of the 
meeting of delegates at Edinburgh, styling themselves the British Con- 
vention, and by the banishment of several of its members. By the active 
instigations of these agitators, the labourers were induced to rise in many 
counties of Scotland, for the purpose of forcibly preventing the execu- 
tion of the enactment. The local authorities were routed in more than 
one instance, and the escape of the ringleaders facilitated by the ar- 
rangements of their friends in Edinburgh. The riots were sufficiently 
serious to call for the interference of the law officers of the crown ; and 
with the view of striking terror by example, several of the parties im- 
plicated were arraigned at the bar of the high court of justiciary. 

With the first of these trials in which Scott was concerned, his con- 
nection seems to have been entirely accidental. It was observed by the 
presiding judge, that of the four prisoners placed at the bar, two had no 
counsel in attendance to conduct their defence, and in conformity to the 
vmiform practice of the court, he recommended them to the professional 
care of two memljcrs of the bar. Messrs. Walter Scott and James 
L'Amy, who happened to be in court, were named by his lordship, and 
accepted by the prisoners. The want of previous notice prevented these 
gentlemen from taking any more active part in the trial, which lasted so 
long that the verdict of the jury was not received till next day, than 
watching its progress, and stating at the close those points of the evi- 
dence which appeared most favourable to their clients. This latter duty 
was performed by Scott. Upon the reading of the verdict an objection 
was stated to it by the counsel for the other two prisoners, on the 
ground of a defect in point of form, which was after some argument 
overiiiled by the court. In this discussion, Scott seems to have taken 
no share. The whole of the accused were in consequence of the ver^ 
diet of the jury sentenced to transportation for fourteen years, notwith- 
standing a representation by the chancellor (or foreman) " that he and 
his brethren were of opinion, that the pannels had been misled and in- 
stigated to their lawless proceedings by some underhand and designing 
persons." 

It appeared, from the statements of the witness examined, that the 
prisoners, one of whom was a female, had formed part of a riotous as- 
semblage, amounting in number to several hundreds, armed with clubs 
and sticks, who had attacked two depute-lieutenants of the county of 
Berwick, while engaged at the church of Eccles m adjusting and amend- 
ing the lists of the schoolmasters. The mob, after driving the magis- 
trates from the church, and forcibly dissolving the meeting, forced Mr. 
Marjoribanks, one of the depute-lieutenants, to deliver up the lists fur- 
nished by the schoolmaster of the parish, to swear that he would never 



112 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

in future assist in carrying the obnoxious law into execution, and to 
subscribe a fair copy of his oath, wrote out upon a piece of stamped 
paper. The insurgents next proceeded to the house of the schoohiias- 
ter, whom they compelled to take and subscribe a similar oath. Lastly, 
they proceeded to the seat of Sir Alexander Purves, the other depute- 
lieutenant concerned in the transaction, and on his refusing to come out 
to them, forced their way into the house. This gentleman they like- 
wise compelled by threats to take the same oath they had dictated to 
his brother in oilice. It does not appear that any person was seriously 
hurt in the tumult, and no insult was oflered to the ladies of Sir Alex- 
ander's family. The determined perseverance of the rioters, their dis- 
crimination in selecting the objects of their attack, and refraining from 
wanton aggression of others, and the serio-comic incident of the stamped 
paper upon which the oath was written, must have made a deep im- 
pression upon Scott, and perhaps taught him for the first time the true 
character of a Scotish mob, an assemblage which he afterwards so vividly 
and correctly portrayed in his "Heart of Mid-Lothian." 

Whilst the riot, to the details of which we have had occasion to ad- 
vert in our account of the trial of the 7th October, must be considered as 
offering litde more than a picture of the tone and temper of an ordinary 
Scotish mob, the events connected with the trial, which took place on 
the 11th, are more intimately bound up with the temporary feelings of 
the year 1797. In Berwickshire, and most other counties of Scotland, 
the labouring classes rose almost to a man, aided and organised in many 
instances by the parish schoolmasters ; and the county gentlemen, un- 
prepared for resistance, yielded to the exigency of the moment, reserv- 
ing to themselves the manly vengeance of swearing away the liberty of 
their assailants in a court of justice. In the county of Haddington, 
however, they were better provided with the means of resisting the 
popular will. The county had raised a strong corps of volunteer ca- 
valry ; a detachment of the Cinque Port Light Dragoons were quartered 
in the burgh of Haddington ; and the Pembrokeshire cavalry, along with 
the Sutherland Fencibles, were stationed in the vicinity of Musselburgh. 

The village of Tranent is situated between the towns at which the 
English troops were stationed. Its inhabitants and those of the neigh- 
bourhood are composed, in addition to the usual compliment of landlords, 
farmers, and farm-labourers, principally of colliers and carters — the 
former a body of men among whom the practice of secret affdiation has 
always been carried to a great extent, and the locality of whose labours 
facilitates their abstraction from the police, when their disagreements 
with it are of a trifling or ordinary nature ; the latter a class rendered 
strong and fearless by their migratory habits, but at the same time rude 
and little amenable to the laws. It is impossible at this distance of time 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 113 

to determine whether tlie great boldness and long established habits of 
acting in union of the Tranent people had occasioned more fear in the 
minds of the local magistrates than their brothers in office elsewhere 
were affected with, or whether the precipitancy which occasioned the 
deplorable scene of slaughter we have now to describe, was the unaided 
result of their more timorous and irritable temper. Certain it is, that 
the same symptoms of conspiracy observed in the vicinity of Tranent 
were to be seen in every parish of Scotland ; and what is more to the 
purpose, a body of men who assembled between GifTord and Hadding- 
ton to represent their grievances to the depute-lieutenants convened at 
the very next militia station, on receiving a civil answer, dispersed 
peaceably after passing a resolution to co-operate with their country- 
men to the utmost of their power in resisting the obnoxious enactment. 

Mr. Anderson of St. Germains, Mr. Caddell of Cockenzie, Major 
Wright residing at Ormiston, and Mr. Gray of Southfield, were the 
gentlemen appointed as depute-lieutenants of the county of Haddington, 
to receive and revise the militia lists of the parishes in the neighbour- 
hood of Tranent. Tuesday, the 29th of August, ] 797, was the day 
fixed for the discharge of this unpleasant duty. For some time pre- 
vious they had been rendered anxious by the sound of drums beating 
during the night in the adjacent villages. On the evening of Monday 
the 28th, an ordely dragoon riding from Haddington to Edinburgh was 
obstructed on the streets of Tranent by a crowd assembled after the 
day's labour to discuss the proceedings of the morrow. No insult was 
offered to the soldier, but the dense crowd necessarily impeded his pro- 
gress. With brutal impatience he endeavoured to force a way, by 
riding down some of the men near him. He was unsuccessful, but the 
attempt gave rise to an exchange of abusive epithets which so increased 
his choler, that he turned upon the crowd and attempted to draw his 
sabre. The hilt of his weapon and his bridle were promptly seized by 
the nearest bystanders, and some women and boys who had mingled 
with the crowd began pelting him with stones. He was rescued from 
his imminent danger by the very men he had first assaulted, and al- 
lowed to pursue his journey to Edinburgh, which he did with the reck- 
less fury of a madman, threatening every person he met, and attempt- 
ing to ride over others. 

The passions of the people assembled on the streets of Tranent were 
naturally inflamed by this adventure. A quick eager buzz ran through 
the crowd. At last some one raised the cry of " no militia," which 
was caught up and repeated amid huzzaing and waving of hats. The 
rabble of boys and idle women, who constantly cover the flanks, and ad- 
vance in front of a mob like the swarms of tirailleurs thrown out before 
a French army, next ran off" in the direction of the schoolmaster's house 

p 



1 14 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

He chanced to be from home, and his wife, terrified by the thick pat- 
tering of the feet of the urchins, their cries and threats, and the dense 
mass of people seen in the distance, handed to them from the window 
an ok] book and a paper which she said was the miUtia roll. The 
rabble, totally unorganised and destitute of leaders, continued to ramble 
about the village and its vicinity for a short time, at the close of which 
they beo-an to disperse, and those who had received the papers, begin- 
ning to feel themselves in an awkward scrape, went back and re-delivered 
them to the schoolmaster's wife. No injury was offered to person or 
property during this aimless burst of popular indignation. 

Mr. Anderson, of St. Germains, however, took the alarm, and about 
half-past nine addressed a letter to Captain Finlay, the commanding 
officer at Haddington, requesting the co-operation of a party of the mili- 
tary under his command on the morrow. Even this force, however, 
was reckoned insufficient, and with the consent of his colleagues he, 
between four and five a. m. on the Tuesday, despatched circular letters, 
commanding the instant attendance of the County Yeomanry Cavalry at 
his house. The detachment from Haddington was ostentatiously drawn 
up on the streets of Tranent, the main body being stationed near the 
head inn at an early hour. 

In this inn the magistrates assembled at the appointed time, and were 
proceeding to business, when the delegates from the neighbouring pa- 
rishes arrived in a body, and drew up in front of it. Their leaders sent 
to the gentlemen assembled within a petition that they would not pro- 
ceed to enforce the regulations of the militia act, addressed : — " To the 
honourable gentlemen assembled at Tranent, for the purpose of raising 
six thousand militiamen in Scotland," and subscribed by an immense 
number of names arranged in a circular form. The only answer re- 
turned to this petition was an imperious order to disperse. The super- 
cilious manner in which their request was received co-operated with the 
memory of the preceding evening's transactions to excite an angry feel- 
ing in the multitude. The attempt to overawe and check every ex- 
pression of their sentiments by the presence of an armed soldiery yet 
further embittered their dispositions. And the last drop " which makes 
the cup o'erflow" was added, when the volunteer cavalry of the county 
galloped into the village brandishing their sabres, jeering and boasting. 
The experience of every occasion on which this equivocal force has 
been employed, from the massacre of Tranent down to that of Man- 
chester, warrants us in saying that it is the worst and most dangerous 
implement ever placed by a silly or abject legislature in the hands of a 
despotically inclined executive. Its ranks are filled with young hot- 
brained fools, who fancy themselves elevated by their position above 
the multitude, and bound in duty to trample it down whenever it crosses 
their path. Destitute alike of the cool passionless bravery of the sol- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 115 

dier of the line, and the fellow-feeling for the unarmed citizen of the 
national guard, they unite the defects of both without one of their vir- 
tues. Vulgar and ferocious they have ever proved themselves, and their 
utility as a defensive force has never yet been put to the test. This is 
a somewhat diflerent picture from what the imaginations of Scott and 
other more refined members of the body presented to them, but it is 
more correct. The beauty and integrity of their emotions we do not 
call in question, but being excited by their connection with such force 
we must regard them as analogous to those deep rich glossy dyes which 
the blessed sun can imprint even on the surface of the putrid puddle 
which stagnates around a dunghill. It is ever thus with the specious 
virtues fostered by the institution of castes ; they are reared on the ruins 
of more and more impoi'tant virtues. The anecdote related above of a din- 
ner at Musselburgh shows what an incompatibility of sentiment must have 
existed between Scott's intimate associates and the rude mass of the corps. 

Be this as it may, the arrival of the district yeomanry cavalry was as 
usual the signal for the commencement of mischief. The women, al- 
ways foremost on such occasions, began to throAV stones in the direction 
of the inn, and but a short time elapsed before every window of the 
house was shattered. One of the lieutenants, who was also a justice of 
the peace, cautioned the people to depart, and attempted to read the riot 
act, but without being heard or attended to. Several of the stones struck 
individuals in the ranks of the Cinque Port cavalry, who began to grow 
impatient and irritated. After some brief delay, the word was given to 
charge, and the troopers dashed into the middle of the assembled multi- 
tude, cutting right and left with their sabres. 

But the perfervidum ingenium Scotorum was now completely aroused. 
The delegates from the neighbouring parishes, the individuals attending 
to plead exemptions from service, the inhabitants of the village — all 
were revolted and indignant at this attempt of barefaced power to tram- 
ple down the people and stifle their complaints. Armed with no bet- 
ter weapons than their walking sticks and the stones lying about the 
rugged ill-cleared streets of a Scottish village, they threw themselves 
among the ranks of the armed cavalry, seized the horses by the bridles 
and opposed ash saplings to cold steel. The military commanders soon 
discovered that unless they had recourse to their fire-arms the supe- 
riority of their men was exti'emely doubtful. Orders were accordingly 
given to load and fire. The peasantry began to retreat from the unequal 
conflict, but without evincing the slightest symptom of an intention to 
relinquish it. The blood of women was on the swords of the troopers, 
the contest had been provoked by the supercilious and masterful vio- 
lence of the magistracy. From windows, heads of stairs, and tops of 
houses, the people continued to attack the soldiers with whatever mis- 
siles came to hand. One man stationed behind a chimney wrenched 



116 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

from it brick after brick to discharge at the heads of the assailants. He 
was repeatedly fired at before he was brought down, and succeeded in 
emptying six or seven dragoon saddles. During this affray, Mr. An- 
derson of St. Germains, its principal instigator, made his escape to 
Musselburgli, riding behind a dragoon, and thence despatched a rein- 
forcement to the friends he had deserted. Thus strengthened, the pea- 
santry were after a desperate struggle driven from the village, which 
was shortly after taken possession of by three or four hundred of the 
Sutherland fencibles. The slaughter however did not cease here. The 
infuriated cavalry, in despite of every exertion of their officers, pursued 
the unarmed fugitives over the neighbouring muirs and through the 
fields of ripened corn. Men, women and boys were indiscriminately 
cut down, notwithstanding their piteous entreaties for mercy. Several 
persons who had not been near Tranent were encountered by the sol- 
diers and slain. 

Thus was opposition to an unjust law yet more unjusdy repressed, 
and scarcely " a voice was heard to upbraid." An incidental taunt was 
all the notice vouchsafed to it in the house of the peoplts represenUdives. 
The only editor in Scodand, Mr. Morthland, advocate, and editor of the 
Scots Chronicle, who dared to state the facts of the case, as they really 
happened, was attacked at once by a prosecution for libel, at the in- 
stance of Mr. Anderson ; a motion for his expulsion from the Faculty 
of Advocates, made by Mr. Charles Hope, now president of the court 
of session ; and the threat of proceedings to be instituted against him by 
the law-oflicers of the crown. Wearied and harassed by such a mul- 
tiplicity of persecutions, he was obliged to give way to the torrent, and 
desist from the publication of his journal, at that time one of the most 
extensively circulated in Scotland. But the effrontry of the local ad- 
ministration of Scotland did not stop even here. Four of the peasantry, 
who had escaped from the Tranent massacre, were brought to the bar 
of the court of Justiciary, accused of rioting and mobing. The vin- 
dictive feelings of government were not glutted by all the blood shed on 
that occasion. It was their trial which took place on the 1 1 th of Octo- 
ber, and gave the Tranent riot a yet closer connection with Scott's per- 
sonal history, than it could have had as a mere illustration of the tem- 
per of the times. 

The pleas urged in defence of each of the four pannels were dif- 
ferent, (one of them, a woman, escaped, having proved, by producing 
her record of baptism, that she had been indicated by a wrong name,) 
and different counsel appeared for each. It wdl be sufiicient for our 
purpose to follow the fortunes of Neil Reidpath, an agricultural labourer, 
who was defended by Mr. Walter Scott, advocate. We find the fol- 
lowing entry in the " Books of Adjournal ;" — " Scott for the pannel 
Reidpath represented that he did not mean to object to the relevancy of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 117 

the libel : — That his client had gone to Tranent on the day libeled for 
the purpose of getting his name struck out of the militia list, as he was 
above the age ; but had no concern in the disgraceful proceedings of the 
mob there assembled." In support of this allegation five witnesses 
were produced, respecting one of whom we find the following notan- 
dum in the record quoted above. " It being observed by the court that 
the said David Brotherstones has been guilty of concealing the truth 
upon oath, therefore the said lords ordain him to be carried to the Tol- 
booth of Edinburgh, therein to be detained till Friday next at ten 
o'clock, forenoon, and then to be set at liberty. (Signed) Bobert 
M'Queen, I. P. D." Notwithstanding this awkward accident, the most 
grating that can happen to a young and ingenuous mind, the evidence 
against the prisoner was' so insufficient that the jury included him in 
their general verdict, — " Find the libel not proven." Little did the 
young advocate think, while triumphing in his success, that the minute 
details of the riot to which he was that day forced to listen, had fur- 
nished materials to aid in rearing the imperishable structure of his fame. 
The pleasure afforded by this reflection is, however, materially dulled 
by the remembrance that his kindly feelings, narrowed to the range 
of his own associates, were not strong enough to break the bonds cast 
around him by political sectarianism — that he was led to give up to 
party what was meant for mankind. 

At an earlier period of this narrative, we had occasion to mention 
that Scott was in the habit of making frequent excursions into the 
country. Some desultory but minute enough reminiscences of these 
rambles we have received from an old servant of the name of George 
Walkinshaw, who used to attend him during their continuance. Walkin- 
shaw, then a boy of ten years of age, entered the service of old Mr. 
Scott in 1796. The excursions which he describes terminated in 1799, 
after Scott's appointment to the office of sheritT, We have been una- 
ble to fix more precisely the dates of the little adventures related to us 
by Walkinshaw, and therefore give them here as forming a natural and 
appropriate link between the history of Scott's social and active pur- 
suits, and that of his literary exertions. These rambles were in truth 
so many perusals of the great book of nature. We preserve, as nearly 
as we can, the simple language of our informant. 

George Walkinshaw, whose mother had nursed Mr. Thomas Scott, 
and taken charge of Walter at the same time, was ten years old in 1796, 
when he entered the service of old Mr. Scott. He was much about 
Walter's person ; and it is from him that the description of his young 
master's favourite attitude while studying, lying on his back on the 
floor with all his books around him, was obtained. The fondness for 
dogs which early manifested itself, and continued a prominent feature 
of Scott's character to the last, had already sti-engthened into a habit. 



118 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

He possessed, in 1796, an old dog which he called Snap, an animal 
so docile and sagacious, that the boy Walkinshaw was decidedly of 
opinion that the creature was not canny. Snap seldom quitted his 
master's room, except to accompany him on his rambles, and slept 
every night at his bed-foot. If we may trust George's account, when 
Walter required the attendance of any of the servants, he needed only 
to name them to Snap, who trotted off to the hall, or kitchen, and 
barked at them until they followed him to his master. Some allowance 
must be made in this story for the youth and creduhty of the narrator 
at the time, more especially, as they seem occasionally to have exposed 
him to a system of playful mystitication at the hands of his master. 

Scott was now in the enjoyment of confirmed and robust health. 
He was a vigorous walker, ever and anon precipitating himself forward 
by a huge spring. In ascending and descending stairs he distanced 
every body. His excursions, when the distance was not great, were 
made on foot. A few necessaries were packed up in a bundle, and 
strapped upon George's back, (Scott, from some whim or another, al- 
ways called him Donald ;) and in this guise the pair wandered from 
house to house. On these occasions the boy was strictly forbidden to 
call him " Sir." It was arranged between them, that George should 
first enter the house they intended to visit, in order to spy how the land 
lay. If it appeared that their company was not likely to be regarded 
as an intrusion, his master followed. The establishments into which 
he thus sought to penetrate, were generally such as had been pointed 
out to him as the residences of very old people ; and with these ancient 
crones and gaffers he would enter into conversation, striving to lead 
them on to dilate on the reminiscences of their youth. If the inmates 
proved shy and reluctant to converse with strangers, he used to ask for 
oat cakes and milk for his boy, of which he at times partook himself, 
but only in those cases where payment was accepted. 

An incident which Walkinshaw distinctly recollects to have occurred 
during one of these rambles, shows that even at this early period, Scott's 
propensity for scraping together " a fouth of auld nick-nackets," had 
begun to display itself. It was in a poor cottage, in a muirland part of 
the country, that the future knight and his squire were conversing with 
an old dame, who, as her only piece of finery, displayed around her 
withered neck a string of large " lammer beads." They were the 
pride of the good lady's heart, and held in high esteem by the old peo- 
ple of the country side for their sanatory virtues. Besides possessing 
many other occult qualities, they were known to be a sure charm against 
the malign influence of witchcraft, and an infallible remedy for sore 
eyes. Walter asked the old woman if she would sell her beads. " Yes," 
was the reply; "but I fear ye are no rich aneuch to buy them." 
-" What do ye ask for them guidwife ?" " I'll no gie them under sax 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 1 19 

pennies the piece." " But, guidwife, I'll gie ye twal pennies for them." 
In a moment they were from her neck and carefully counted ; the old 
crone being evidently afraid lest the bold bidder should retract his offer 
if allowed time for consideration. The cash was paid, and the glad 
vender exclaimed, — " Fair fa' yer sonsie face ! ye're the honestest mer- 
chant I ever met wi'." The beads were subsequently reset, and pre- 
sented to Mrs. Scott soon after her marriage. 

It would appear from the doubts entertained by the lady of the " 1am- 
mer beads," as to the ability of her guest's purse to meet the purchase 
of her fairy treasure, that Scott's incognito was tolerably well preserved. 
An adventure which befell him on another occasion, a mile or two above 
Dalkeith, is further corroborative of this. On knocking at the door, he 
was welcomed by the gudewife, in these words : — " Come in by, honest 
man ! I'm glad you're come, for the gudeman's coat needs clouting." 
" What's that she says, Donald ?" asked Scott. " She thinks we are 
tailors, and wants us to mend the claise." The fancy struck him as 
so ludicrous, that he bui-st into a violent fit of laughter, and it was some 
time before he recovered himself sufficiently to be able to undeceive his 
hostess. 

We remarked above, that he at times partook of the simple fare 
which he procured for his attendant from the cottars. In general, how- 
ever, he preferred filling Donald's pockets, and despatching his own 
share afterwards seated by the side of the highway, or in some pic- 
turesque nook which struck his fancy. In a retired and beautiful spot, 
he would often sit for hours with the boy by his side, speaking eagerly 
to himself. Then he would laugh aloud, and take his note-book from 
the large side pocket of his short coat, and write for a while. He 
would then return it, and again go on to converse with himself. Even 
as they walked along, it was his habit to break out suddenly into a 
laugh, and then stop short and begin to write. These rambles were, 
in a great measure, the secret and the source of his poetic power. It 
is pleasing to contemplate the future poet in the full triumphant buoy- 
ancy of animal spirit, gushing from perfect health and strength, wan- 
dering freely along the highway, or " through the muir amang the 
heather," like a pilgrim of romance, whose stations were one reeky 
hovel after another, totally wrapped up in his own imaginings, laughing 
and talking to himself. He walked with men, " among them, not of 
them." He dreamed with all the impetuosity of youthful passion, his 
dream of youth, but it was one so pure, so light, that he awoke from 
it without depression. These excursions were seasons of intense en- 
joyment. 

When Scott had any more extensive journey in contemplation, he 
and Walkinshaw were mounted upon two ponies. His expenses were 
not materially augmented by this addition to his retinue ; for he has 



120 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

left on record, in a note to " St. Ronan's Well," that " a young man, 
with two ponies and a serving-lad, might then travel from the house of 
one Mr. Dods to another, through most part of Scotland, for about five 
shillino-s a-day." But if his expenditure continued nearly the same, 
the annoyance to which the simplicity of his attendant occasionally ex- 
posed him was increased. He generally gave the boy silver to pay the 
tolls, with orders to lay out the small change which he received back 
in the purchase of gingerbread. In one of his abstracted fits, he handed 
Donald some silver to pay a loll through whicli they were to pass in 
the course of the dsy, merely saying to him, " mind the gingerbread." 
The boy soon after espying a woman with a well filled basket, stopped 
and expended all the money given him upon it. His master, who had 
insensibly got a good way a-head, looked round, and not feeling quite 
secure in the sound judgment of his faithful follower, rode back to see 
what kept him. " Donald what detains you ?" " I am putting the 
crino-erbread in my pockets," says Donald. " Have you spent all in 
gingerbread ? How are we to get through the toll ?" " Ye said mind 
the o-ino-erbread, and I hae na forgotten." This adventure, not unworthy 
to rank with the purchase of the gi-oss of green spectacles by the sapient 
Moses Primrose, was long a favourite joke with Scott, who used to tell 
it at table in his own pau'ky way, while poor Donald stood at his back, 
vexed, fidgeting-, and l^lushing. 

During these rambles, Scott always slept at the public houses, and 
generally spent the evening beside the kitchen fire, which was, in these 
simple days, what the traveller's room is in our own. There, some- 
times treating some packman, who took his fancy, to a glass, some- 
times birling his bawbee with farmers or drovers on their way to dis- 
tant markets, he joined in the conversation incidental to the place. He 
sought to draw out his companions at times by humouring the current 
of their ideas, at times by contradicting and instigating them to discus- 
sion. One evening, beside a kitchen fire more crowded than usual, he 
on a sudden lifted his stafl", and holding it over Donald's head, said, 
with a stern voice, " Pay the lawin, sir; pay the lawin." " I hae nae 
lawin." " If ye dinna pay the lawin I'll break your head." As he 
uttered these words, up started a huge farmer, with " How daur ye bid 
a bairn like that pay your lawin ? If ye ofier to lay yer stick on him 
I'll baste yer hide for ye. Ye had mair need to gie him a bawbee to 
buy a bap. Come here, my man ; there's a bawbee." Donald shrunk 
frojB the good-natured farmer, but his master insisted upon his accept- 
ing the offer . " Gang and tak it, man ; gang and tak it." Donald 
obeyed ; and Scott and the farmer having come to an understanding, 
commenced a jollification, and continued the best of friends till the farmer 
left the house for the evening. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 121 

We have seen, in the course of these anecdotes, the attention paid by 
Scott to the comfort of his young attendant. It deserves also to be 
noticed, that, during the whole of their excursions, he never lost the 
command of his temper but once. Snap was the occasion of the explo- 
sion. The beast had a good deal of the bull dog in him, and was 
continually engaging in quarrels with others of his own species. One 
day he attacked a colly by the road-side, when Donald, annoyed by the 
scrapes into which Snap was repeatedly bringing him, snatched a stake 
from the neighbouring hedge, and struck him over the head, that the 
blood came. When they afterwards came up to the spot where Scott 
stood looking on, he slightly raised his staff, and said, in a suppressed 
tone, " Donald, I'll break your head for breaking Snap's. Do not hurt 
him again." And here, checking himself, he broke off abruptly. 

These excursions were persevered in until Scott received the appoint- 
ment of sheriff. After that occurrence his person began to be more 
generally known. His rambles, when not extended to a distance, neces- 
sarily assumed a different character. He felt constrained, and enjoyed 
the humours of his casual companions less. By degrees he discontinued 
a practice which had ceased to afford him amusement ; and only resumed 
his itinerant habits at rare intervals, and when an opportunity offered of 
extending his journey to a considerable distance. "All that blooms 
must fade ;" and even this cheap and simple source of pleasure became 
unattainable. We have seen, however, how keenly he enjoyed his 
season of free and idle intercourse with nature ; and all who know his 
works must feel how much of their amusement they owe to his gipsy 
strolls. 

So far we have proceeded upon the authority of the humble but worthy 
attendant of these rambles ; what follows is from the pen of Sir Walter 
himself, and as a record of an autumnal excursion during the year 1797, 
seems here fitly in place. It relates to David Ritchie, the unfortunate 
creature whose peculiarities of form and fortune suggested the Black 
Dwarf. It will appear how feeble the hint which set Scott's inventive 
genius to manufacture that wayward incarnation of morbid sentiment. 
" The author saw this poor, and it may be said, unhappy man, in 
autumn 1797. Being then, as he has the happiness still to remain, 
connected by ties of intimate friendship with the family of the venerable 
Dr. Adam Fergusson, the philosopher and historian, who then resided 
at the mansion house of Halyards, in the vale of Manor, about a mile 
from Ritchie's hermitage, the author was upon a visit at Halyards, 
which lasted for several days, and was made acquainted with this sin- 
gular anchorite, whom Dr. Fergusson considered as an extraordinary 
character, and whom he assisted in various ways, particularly by the 
loan of books. Though the taste of the philosopher and the poor pea- 

u 



122 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

sant did not, it may be supposed, always correspond,* Dr. Fergusson 
considered him as a man of powerful capacity and original ideas, but 
whose mind was thrown off its just bias, by a predominant degree of 
self-love and self-opinion, galled by the sense of ridicule and contempt, 
and avenging itself upon society, in idea at least, by a gloomy misan- 
thropy." Concerning this unfortunate man, the perpetuator of his 
memory elsewhere tells us, " He was bred a brush maker at Edinburgh, 
and had wandered to several places, working at his trade, from all 
which he was chased by the disagreeable attention which his hideous 
singularity of form and face attracted wherever he came. The author 
understood him to say he had even been in Dublin." It appears from 
this statement, that Scott's personal intercourse with the prototype of 
" Cannie Elshie" was limited to one interview. The personal appear- 
ance of the dwarf might make a lasting impression upon him, but the 
unfortunate being's mind he saw through the medium of the opinions of 
Dr. Fergusson. This fact will afford room for comment when the first 
of My Landlord's Tales comes to form part of our history. 

While thus engaged in the active pursuits of life, and in frequent and 
attentive perusals of the great book of nature, Scott had by no means 
relaxed in his attention to books of a less metaphorical nature. His 
German studies he continued to prosecute, although under considerable 
disadvantage. The literary intercourse between this country and the 
continent was at that time extremely languid. German works in par- 
ticular were all but inaccessible. Mr. Constable, however, the future 
Jonathan Oldbuck, procured for his young friend an Adelung's Dictionary 
through the mediation of Father Pepper, a monk of the Scotish College 
of Ratisbon; and his friend Mrs. Scott of Harden, by her connections 
with the continent, procured for him from time to time, in addition to 
his first love. Burger, the principal works of Schiller, Goethe, and La 
Motte Fouque. We have already had occasion to notice Scott's account 
of his method of studying the language: he "was in the practice of 
fighting his way to the knowledge of the German by his acquaintance 
with the Scotish and Anglo Saxon dialects, and of course frequently 
committed blunders." We are consequently prepared to acquiesce in 
the truth of his statement with regard to the use he made of these trea- 
sures, when he says : — ^^" Being thus furnished with the necessary origi- 
nals, I began to translate on all sides, certainly without any thing like 
an accurate knowledge of the language." A more minute account of 
the direction which his studies took, is given in these words : — " I pur- 

* "I remember," says Sir Walter, " David was particularly anxious to see a 
book, which he called, I think. Letters to the Elect Ladies, and which, he said, 
was the best composition he had ever read; but Dr. Fergusson's library did not 
supply the volume." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 123 

sued the German language keenly, and though far from being a correct 
scholar, became a bold and daring reader, nay even translator of va- 
rious dramatic pieces from that tongue." 

One of these translations he gave to the public early in 1799: — 
Goethe's " Gotz of Berlichingen." As the translation of this tragedy, 
however, seems to have been executed some time previous to its publi- 
cation, and as our remarks respecting the translator's success are chiefly 
meant to throw light upon the degree of development attained by his 
literary faculties at the period of his career we have now approached, 
this seems the most proper time for submitting them to the reader. The 
degree of tact shown in apprehending his author's drift, the degree of 
power evinced in clothing his author's thoughts in Enghsh idioms, afford 
no mean test of the translator's proficiency in the art of poetry. In 
order, however, that this test may be fairly applied, it will be necessary 
to preface our criticism of the translation with a few words reo-ardino- 
the peculiar character of the original. 

The literary tone of Goethe's writings, as of those of all authors, owes 
its peculiar character in part to the natural constitution of his mind, in 
part to the impress of the circumstances among which it ripened. His 
master-feehng, that which remains unaltered in every mood of his mind, 
is an intense, voluptuous, delicate, tranquil sense of the beautiful. His 
intellect is of that class which notes accurately every object presented 
to its observation in the most minute details, and strives at the same 
time to detect the place which it holds in the universal order of exist- 
ences, and to trace the links by which it is bound to them. This 
intellect, however, is speculative, not practical. Even in his age of 
creation and destruction, that age which gave birth to the first tremen- 
dous revolutionary earthquake, the throes and heavings of which have 
not yet completed their work of renovation, Goethe was scarcely for a 
moment carried along by the current of popular enthusiasm. He felt 
from the first, what his vocation was, to mirror in the fairer forms of 
poetry the figures that passed before him in the ever shifting magic- 
lantern of busy life. He mingled, it is true, from time to time, in every 
pursuit which interests man ; he was by turns artist, philosopher, states- 
man, soldier, and lawyer. But he trode every path 



like a child at a feast, 



Which but sips at a sweet, and then flies to the rest. 

He returned from all his desultory excursions into the various provinces 
of busy life, to cast in the mould of poetry enduring images of the tran- 
sient emotions which he had experienced. 

The circumstances under the influence of which these mental elements 
were evolved and strengthened into character, were sufiiciently varied 



124 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

and exciting. He was born and brought up amid the decorous and 
monotonous routine of the hfe then led by the decent burghers of the 
Imperial Free Towns of Germany. His father, however, a wealthy 
idle man, who had seen the world, devoted himself to the education of 
his children, and in particular of his only son. The boy's memory, 
judgment, and perseverance, were incessantly kept in exercise from his 
earliest years. He was encouraged to expatiate over the whole wide 
field of knowledge, which was then alluring as many and as sanguine 
cultivators, as the backwoods of America do now. And what had a 
strong influence over the whole of his future life, he was encouraged to 
cultivate a knowledge of and taste for art, which had become one of his 
father's hobbies during a visit he had paid to Italy in his youth. Goethe 
being destined to the profession of the law, was sent, in due time, first 
to the university of Leipzig, and subsequently to that of Strasburg. At 
the former, besides acquiring such a knowledge of his prospective avo- 
cation as enabled him to pass muster before paternal enquiries respecting 
his proficiency, he formed an intimate acquaintance with the somewhat 
tame German literature of the day, and mastered by sedulous study the 
views of the philosophy of art, promulgated by Winkelman. At the 
latter, he became versant in the writings of the Encyclopedists, and 
caught at the same time a spark of the enthusiasm with which Herder 
was then treading in the footsteps of Dr. Percy. 

Upon a mind thus naturally susceptible and carefully trained, the 
giant phenomena of the moral and political world around him made a 
deep impression. While Goethe was yet a mere child, his native city, 
Frankfort, was, in the course of the seven years' war, taken possession 
of by the French troops, and their commander was quartered in his 
father's house. His infant ears rung with the noise of battle, and his 
infant eyes dwelt upon the comings and goings of eminent military and 
diplomatic characters. His attention was thus directed to the stately 
march of political events even before he could comprehend its importance. 
He entered upon his legal studies at a time when the amelioration of 
existing institutions had begun to be keenly canvassed, even by practi- 
cal jurists. And although this had not been the case, still his familiarity 
with the writings of Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau, must have taught 
him that a new spirit had awakened upon earth, and was struggling to 
break through the trammels of old forms. But the fact that the old 
fabric of society, in his own land, as elsewhere, was breaking down 
about the ears of those who had found shelter beneath it, was brought 
yet more palpably home to his conviction, when he was sent to reside 
at Wetzlar, with a view to the completion of his practical studies. An 
Imperial Visitation had at the period of his arrival been sitting for some 
years in that town, investigating the causes of the tardiness and insufil- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 125 

ciency of the proceedings in the highest court of appeal in the empire 
(das Rcichs-Kammergericht). The enquiries of the commission, like 
those of all its predecessors, led to no practical result, but directed the 
attention of the young jurist to the rise and consolidation of the civil 
institutions of his native land. The gigantic but ill-strung body of the 
German empire lay before him as on a dissecting-table. The book of 
his country's history was opened, and a series of pictures uncovered to 
his apprehensive imagination, representing attempts to establish a feudal 
monarchy over a land far too broad for such an imperfect system of 
government, terminating in ill-concealed anarchy, and struggles to sub- 
ject the minds of men to one universal faith, exploding into a wild chaos 
of bigotry and fanaticism. Amid these stormy scenes, his eye rested at 
times with delight upon the sturdy figures of high-minded and energetic 
men, labouring in their several spheres with more or less success, to 
establish or restore good government, and enforce the dictates of law, 
morality, and religion. 

The inborn impulse of his nature forced Goethe to give vent to the 
thought and feelings fermenting in his mind in the form of fictitious 
narrative. " The result of all my reflections," he says, in his fragment- 
ary autobiography, " was a return to my old determination, to explore 
both the external phenomena and the more recondite principles of nature, 
and to allow them to plead their own cause in pictures painted in a 
kindly spirit. For this purpose, which haunted me night and day, two 
great, I may almost say gigantic masses of materials presented them- 
selves, the wealth of which I needed only partially to appreciate, to 
enable me to work them up into something valuable. They were — 
that earlier age in which Gotz of Berlichingen lived, and my own, the 
sickly bloom of which is painted in Werter." Accordingly, both of 
these strikingly contrasted works were composed about the same time. 
Leaving Werther to the appreciation of others, our business is with the 
older and sterner hero. 

Goethe's general qualifications for the composition of a historical 
drama, are sufficiently apparent from what has been here premised. 
Of his studies, undertaken with an immediate reference to that enter- 
prise, he has himself given us an account. " The darker centuries of 
German history had excited my curiosity and imagination from an 
early age. The desire to represent Gotz of Berlichingen and his age 
in a dramatic form, was one of my favourite ideas. I read diligently 
the principal authors; in particular I fixed my attention upon Von 
Datt's treatise, ' De Pace Publica ;' I studied it anxiously, and familiar- 
ized myself with its strange peculiarities." He elsewhere remarks : — 
" My enduring interest in Shakspeare's works had so widened my con- 
ceptions, that the narrow stage, and the brief interval of a dramatic 



126 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

representation, seemed to me far too limited for the production of any 
great effect. The life of honest Gotz, written by himself, lured me into 
an historical arrangement, and my imagination expanded so much, that 
my dramatic form outgrew the narrow limits of the theatre, and ap- 
proached close and more closely to a counterpart of living events." 
After this fashion he brooded over his subject for several years, viewing 
it in every light, and talking over his projected work with a favourite 
sister. At last the affectionate railing of that amiable and accomplished 
lady forced him to take the pen in his hand, and the first sketch of his 
drama was accomplished in an inconceivably short space of time. He 
threw it aside, and on again taking it to hand, after a considerable inter- 
val, found that it required to be almost entirely remodeled. " The first 
act was tolerably successful, but in the rest, and especially towards the 
close of the piece, a fantastic passion had unconsciously misled me. In 
my endeavours to paint Adelaide in the most pleasing colours, I had 
fairly fallen in love with her, and involuntarily my pen had been de- 
voted exclusively to her. The charms of the woman had thrown the 
real hero completely into the shade, and the interest attached to her 
fate swallowed up every other." With inconceivable power of self- 
denial, a quality in which no man ever surpassed Goethe, he ruthlessly 
lopped away every leaf and blossom of luxuriant passionate poetry, and 
transformed his play into a representation of real life, in which the 
ruling passion of love only maintains its due place amid the more manly 
and robust emotions of human nature. 

Gotz von Berlichingen accordingly remains the central figure, the 
point to which all other parts of the picture bear a reference, the hero 
who gives unity to the whole. He is a masculine spirit, pious and ho- 
nourable by nature and education, rude and hardy by constant exercise. 
For himself he reveres the laws, and the emperor their representative, 
and seeks to square his actions to them ; but when injured, the consti- 
tution of the land recognises his ria;ht to eke out the deficiencies of a 
defective police by the aid of his good sword, and his natural disposi- 
tion, and the knowledge that " his father did so before him," renders 
him noways averse to the alternative. He lives, however, in an age of 
transition. The light of more effective institutions, and a more refined 
and complicated system of law, has glimmered into Germany from 
Italy, and has found worshippers. The Emperor Maximilian, one of 
the noblest monarchs who ever mounted the thorny throne of the holy 
Roman empire, seeks to consolidate the state, overlooking, however, in 
his anxiety for peace, the rights of his subjects. The electors wish 
each to be masters in their own territories, disregarding alike the rights 
of their feudal superior, and of their vassals. The majority of the free- 
barons have degenerated under the system of self-aid into mere robbers. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT 127 

The peasantry, ill-fed and worse taught, are animated by the desire to 
change places with their lordly oppressors, were it but to taste one day 
of vengeance, and then sink in common ruin. To add to the confusion 
produced by the re-action of these anarchical principles, the faith hal- 
lowed in the minds of men by immemorial reverence has been attacked; 
the fat unwieldy priesthood has been startled from its doze, by the ve- 
hement objurgations of the apostles of a purer doctrine, mingling with 
the yells of those who hunger for their wealth. The character sus- 
tained by Gotz amid all this confusion is one of the most interesting 
that can well be conceived, — the character of a plain blunt man, who, 
without seeing his way clearly amid the perplexities that environ him, 
by dint of sheer rectitude of principle and firmness of purpose, succeeds 
uniformly in selecting and persevering in the right path. He struggles 
on through darkness and danger, and although he sinks at last broken- 
hearted, conscious honesty alleviates his last pangs, and friend and foe 
combine to bewail his loss. The other characters of the play, aiding 
in the development of the story, (plot properly speaking there is none,) 
are struck out in brief indications, with a bold yet discriminating pen- 
cil. The bishop and the abbot, alike voluptuous and effeminate, yet 
the former elevated by high reaching ambition ; Wcislingen, with gene- 
rous sentiment but infirm of purpose, and inveigled by the blandish- 
ments of a woman and the favour of a prince ; Sickingen, bold and ge- 
nerous, but in imminent danger of being misled by success into selfish 
ambition; the splendid Adelheid, sparkling at once in beauty and de- 
struction; the gentle Mary, and the housewively Elizabeth, — nay, the 
gallant Lerse, — the brave George, — the good brother Martin, have each 
of them a marked individual character. The element in which they 
move is a drama ; such a drama as Shakspeare would have made of 
the subject, requiring the world for a stage, and years for its time of 
action. The scene shifts, the characters enter, utter a few simple 
words, which suggest, however, boundless wealth of thought, and walk 
off again. Some of these scenes contain merely a few speeches of a 
few words each, and no care is taken by the author to hint at the na- 
ture of their connection. Yet we feel that they are organic parts of a 
mighty whole, — we rise from the perusal of the drama with an intimate 
knowledge of the age into which we have wandered. With like unap- 
parent effort the moral beauties of that age are made to stand out from 
its sombre background, each in simple reliance upon its own worth, en- 
hancing, not rivaling, the value of its fellows. This splendid edifice is 
reared upon a deep study of society and human character, but the phi- 
losopher nowhere obtrudes himself. Every thing is characteristic, every 
thing is in keeping, but if we feel this, it is upon after- reflection ; we are 
too much engrossed with what is passing before our eyes, too much im- 



128 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

pressed with a transitory belief in its reality, to have time for such re- 
flections. 

We have been describing a work which in its aesthctical character 
bears a sti-iking resemblance to those productions upon which Scott's 
fame mainly rests. It is a re-animating of dry bones of former times 
— a revival in their living bloom of dead ages of the author's land. 
Laying out of view the unimportant difference that Gotz of Berlichin- 
gen is dramatic in its form, while the Waverley novels are narratives, 
we can find no further distinction between them. Goethe in his play 
did for Germany what Scott in his best novels did for Scotland. It is 
therefore a strong indication that the mind of the latter had not, at the 
time this drama fell into his hands, obtained its full maturity, that he 
failed to feel its full merits. That the political lesson it unconsciously 
imparts should have escaped him, is no ways wonderful. Goethe, al- 
though, with many of the best spirits of Germany, he eventually threw 
himself into the arms of the aristocratic party, was a bold enquirer, and 
the very reverse of a bigot. Circumstances too had brought him into 
close contact with the machinery of state. Scott, on the other hand, 
had thrown himself, with the blind vehemence of youth, into the ranks 
of the British tories, the most narrow-minded politicians of the age. 
They could not argue themselves, and they would not allow any other 
person to enquire or argue. Dogged adherence to what was established, 
be it right or be it wrong, deep, bitter, and enduring hatred of every op- 
ponent, was what they required. Enthralled to such a sway, there is 
little room to wonder at his misunderstanding the fine picture of society 
and manners presented to him. He was forbidden to examine society 
with such an observant gaze as would have enabled him to recognise its 
picture. His blindness in this respect has led him into a rather curious 
blunder. In his preface to the translation of Gotz we find the following 
sentence : — " Some liberties have been taken with the original, in omit- 
ting two occasional disquisitions upon the civil law as practised in Ger- 
many." This is almost as good as if a German translator of the Wa- 
verley novels were to exclude Jonathan Oldbuck's learned dissertation on 
the hill-fort of Quickensbog, on the ground that it could only be inter- 
esting to the local antiquary, or Major Dalgetty's reveries, concerning 
the extraction of the square root, on the ground that they were " occa- 
sional disquisitions on military tactics as practised in Scotland." 

There was, however, something in the rude powers which are attri- 
buted to the heroes, and in the blunt bearing of old Gotz himself, that 
captivated the translator, from its external similarity to the bluff heroes 
of his border legends. There was the same coarse strength, the same 
iron nerves, the same healthy relish of the feast and the wine-cup. He 
failed, however, to recognise the faint glimmer of a nobler principle, 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 129 

which, though as yet but a spark, was beginning to glow ruddily through 
the mists of their earthly feelings. Gotz says, when sharing his last 
morsel and last drop of wine with his faithful followers: — "I love the 
emperor; our fate is the same; and I am yet luckier than he. He must 
catch mice to please the states, while the rats are gnawing at his gear. 
I know he often wishes for death i-ather than to remain longer the soul 
of such a ricketty body (fills their glasses). 'Twill just go round again. 
And when our blood runs low, as this wine pours first in a thinner 
thread and then drop by drop, (pours the last drop into his own glass,) 
what shall be our last word?" George, " Freedom." All, " Freedom." 
This is the true key to the nobility of soul displayed by Gotz and the 
better characters of the piece. They sighed for the introduction of 
just laws, but even these they would not purchase by the surrender of 
their independence. They felt instinctively that the men who proffered 
such a bai'gain, had not justice but their own selfish ends in view. This 
was a flight above the Border Reavers. 

But in catching the more delicate traits of character, Scott has failed 
to a degree that is absolutely ludicrous. One instance may suffice for 
many. When the bishop is despatching his creature, Liebetraut, to wile 
back Weislingen to Bamberg, the following conversation takes place be- 
tween the courier and the lady Adelheid : — 

" Liebetraut. Dare I mix your name with these mattei's, lady ? 

Adelheid. In a modest way. 

Liebetraut. That is a pretty extensive commission. 

Adelheid. Know you me so little, or are you so young as not to 
know in what tone I would have you speak of me to Weislingen? 

Liebetraut. In that of a bird-call, I should think. 

Adelheid. Pshaw!" 

In Scott's version, the last allusion is positively sublime : — 

*' Liebetraut. May I venture to use your name, gracious lady ? 

Adelheid. Aye, with all manner of propriety. 

Liebetraut. Know you that's a wide commission ? 

Adelheid. Know you not my rank and sex sufficiently, to understand 
in what tone I am to be spoken of to an unknown nobleman? 

Liebetraut. In the tone of a speaking trumpet, think /." 

Perhaps his blindness to these fine nuances may have been owing to 
imperfect acquaintance with the language, of which many traces occur. 
Certain it is, however, that neither from any feeling of the beauties of 
the original, nor from any peculiar talent for echoing its simple and of- 
ten quaint felicity of expression in English idioms, could this translation 
be regarded as prophetic of superior genius. The preface is the best 
part of the volume, and even it is remarkable for little more than a con- 

R 



laO LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

siderable quantity of information expressed in a smooth and flowing 
style. 

Another literary task accomplished in all probability about this period, 
although not allowed to see the light till a few years ago, may more 
properly be called a rifaciamento than a translation. We allude to 
" The House of Aspen," formed upon the model of Veit Weber's 
" Heihge Vehme," from which Scott tells us he " borrowed the story 
and a part of the diction," while " the whole is compressed, and the in- 
cidents and dialogue occasionally much varied." This drama may 
therefore be considered as an intermediate step between his efforts in 
translation and in original composition. Viewing it in this light, we 
feel ourselves entitled to judge of its merits as a work entirely the au- 
thor's own, without subjecting the reader's patience to such a perilous 
trial as the necessity of comparing copy and original, in order to gauge 
the capacity of the student, obliged us to impose upon him when speak- 
ing of Gotz of Berlichingen. This remark, however, we may be al- 
lowed to make, that, in the selection of a subject, he showed in the pre- 
sent instance the same crude un ripened taste for fantastic horrors which 
had made him overlook the principal beauties of Gotz of Berlichingen 
in his admiration of its secondary merits. He incurred, in his version 
of that work, a share of the censure which Goethe has passed upon 
some of his own countrymen. " As the mass of the public is affected 
more by the material than the artist's skill, it was noways surprising 
that the sympathies of the young were chiefly excited in this manner. 
They regarded it as a banner, beneath which all that is wild and un- 
tamed in youth might allow itself free scope." Scott's memory can 
well afford to bear the burden of this youthful error, from the boldness 
with Avhich in after-life he threw himself upon the unaided resources of 
our healthier emotions. 

" The House of Aspen," is a tragedy of what is commonly called 
the German school. It relies for its effect upon romantic incident and 
the expression of violent passion, rather than upon portraiture of cha- 
racter. The men are all warriors, actuated some of them by virtuous, 
others by malignant motives, but not distinguished by any of those pe- 
culiarities which give individuality to character. As for the women, 
except that the elder expresses deep compunction for past actions, and 
that no such emotions are expressed by the younger, it Avould be diffi- 
cult, but for the name prefixed, to distinguish the speeches of the one 
from those attributed to the other. There is, however, astatejiness and 
gloomy grandeur in the story. The incidents are skilfully selected, and 
we feel that the pageant, were it visibly presented to our eyes, would be 
in the highest degree imposing. In the closet, however, we are aware 
of the want of " words that burn." The expressions employed by the 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 131 

persons of the drama arc cold compared with what the circumstances 
warrant; and the frequent stage directions describing the gestures of the 
speakers do not compensate tlic deficiency. 

The drama opens in the castle of Ebersdorf. Rodiger, its lord, is 
lamenting tliat his wounds incapacitate him from sharing the dangers of 
his sons, who are in the field opposed to a feudal enemy. His wife 
seeks to console him, but an allusion made by him to her former hus- 
band sinks her into deeper sadness than his own. We feel that a 
mystery hangs over her. The suspicion deepens into a foreboding that 
this mystery is allied to guilt during a conversation between the lady 
and her confessor, with which the first act closes. Our doubts are trans- 
formed into certainty in the second act. The squire of her eldest son, 
believing himself mortally wounded, confesses to his master that he had 
been his mother's agent in the murder of her first husband. This con- 
fession he repeats, on recovering from a swoon, to Count Roderic, the 
routed enemy of Aspen, under the impression that it is his master who 
still stands by his side. The Count and George of Aspen are both 
members of the secret tribunal, sworn to reveal and punish every deed 
of guilt that comes to their knowledge, and the beaten warrior sees in 
his victorious enemy's concealment of his mother's crime, a means of 
avenging himself by the hands of their mysterious brethren. He orders 
the wounded man to be carried to a place of concealment. In the third 
act the young baron of Aspen, who still clings to the hope that his 
attendant's tale may have been false, wrings from his mother a confes- 
sion of her guilt. Filial piety, however, is triumphant over his oath to 
the secret avengers, and he resolves to save her at whatever hazard. 
Having learned that his squire has fallen into the hands of his enemy, 
his first step is to obtain possession of the person of this important wit- 
ness; and for this purpose he despatches an itinerant minstrel in the 
disguise of a priest, to efiect the vassal's liberation. The fourth act 
opens with Roderic's discovery of the escape of the prisoner, and his 
recognition of the brother of the murdered husband of the baroness in 
the person of the minstrel who effected the liberation. They unite to 
obtain their common revenge. The baroness is cited to appear before 
the secret tribunal, and George, as a last effort, despatches his brother 
to invoke the aid of the Duke of Bavaria, chief of the order. The fifth 
act passes in the subterranean chapel where the conclave is assembled. 
One of the members rises, and accuses George of Aspen of concealment 
of guilt divulged to him, contrary to his oath. Proof being demanded, 
he uncovers his face: it is George, who seeks by surrendering himself 
to the dagger to screen his mother. He is led off to execution, and the 
baroness is introduced. Her husband is brought forward to be exam- 
ined, and unable to endure the disclosure of her guilt in his presence, 



132 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

she stabs herself. In the president of the tribunal, Rodiger recognises 
by his voice his hereditary foe. By the laws of the tribunal, any unini- 
tiated person discovering a member must join their body or suffer death. 
While they are deUberating on the fate of old Aspen, the Duke of Bava- 
ria enters, accuses Roderic of perverting the laws of the order to gratify 
his own malice, deposes him from his office of president, and degrades 
him from the rank of knight. The drama closes with his princely 
promise to build up the broken fortunes of the house of Aspen. 

It must appear, even from this hasty sketch, that the incidents of the 
drama are skilfully and elegantly arranged. Some of the scenes are 
extremely successful. The stem harsh deportment of the baroness, in 
her interview with the priest is striking. A night scene at an out-post, 
where the sentinels are startled in the middle of a ghost-story by the 
approach of Martin, (George's squire,) followed up, as it is, by the 
seizure of that worthy by two familiars of the tribunal, in the immediate 
vicinity of the marsh where he had gathered the hemlock to drug his 
master's cup, curdles the blood. There is a cold and stately horror 
about the scene in the chapel, where the baroness is summoned to appear 
before her judges. Still the absence of warm human feeling chills and 
enfeebles the whole play. The language is good racy English. We 
are repeatedly struck with the bold intermixture of the ludicrous and 
horrible, a taste for which Scott seems at that time to have imbibed from 
his favorite German authors. In the song of triumph raised by the fol- 
lowers of Aspen we recognise the versification, if not the beautiful flow 
of imagery, which afterwards captivated the world in the boat-song of 
Roderic Dhu's vassals. A yet more curious coincidence occurs. It is 
understood that the author of the Waverley novels was on some occasions 
consulted by one of the play-wrights who dramatised his stories. In 
Rob Roy, as acted, the Cataran turns upon his cousin the Bailie: — 
"To hear the night-bird scream! Will you listen to herbodings; now 
the mist is on the brae and the spirit of the Gregarach walks?" In the 
house of Aspen the following speech is put in the mouth of a retainer of 
Count Roderic : — " Count Roderic of Maltingen greets you. He says 
he will this night hear the bat flutter and the owlet scream ; and he bids 
me ask if thou also wilt listen to the music?" Something like a con- 
necting link between the two passages may perhaps be traced in two 
lines of Macgregor's gathering song : — 

The moon's on the lake and the mist's on the brae, 
And the clan has a name that is nameless by day. 

A metrical version of some verses of " das Rheimvein Lied" intro- 
duced into " the House of Aspen," is executed in a pleasing and simple 
manner. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 133 

What makes the troopers' frozen courage muster? 

The grapes of juice divine. 
Upon the Rhine, upon the Rhine tliey cluster: 

Oh blessed be the Rhine ! 

Let fringe and furs and many a rabbit skin, sirs, 

Bedeck your Saracen, 
He'll freeze without what warms our hearts within, sirs, 

When the night-frost crusts the fen ; 

But on the Rhine, but on the Rhine they cluster. 

The grapes of juice divine, 
That make our troopers' frozen courage muster : 

Oh blessed be the Rhine ! 

On the whole, the drama is evidently the production of an accomplished 
and elegant mind, although it would be difficult to trace in it any emana- 
tions of that genius which blazed out a few years later. 

Dramatic composition held, however, only a second place in Scott's 
affections. The first continued sacred to ballad poetry. After frequent 
essays in imitations and translations from the German, he ventured to 
attempt an original poem in a similar style. The scene selected for his 
(;oup (Vessai, was Glenfinlas, a tract of forest-ground, to the westward 
of the Troshachs, subsequently the most triumphant of his battle-fields 
— a locality with which his early visits to the country had rendered him 
tolerably familiar. The tradition which he sought to embody in his 
verses is simply this : — " While two Highland hunters were passing the 
night in a solitary bothy, (a hut built for the purpose of hunting,) and 
making merry over their venison and whiskey, one of them expressed a 
wish that they had pretty la.sses to complete their party. The words 
were scarcely uttered, when two beautiful young women, habited in 
green, entered the hut, dancing and singing. One of the hunters was 
seduced by the syren who attached herself particularly to him, to leave 
the hut; the other remained, and, suspicious of the fair seducers, con- 
tinued to play upon a trump or Jew's harp some strain consecrated to 
the Virgin Mary. Day at length came, and the temptress vanished. 
Searching in the forest, he found the bones of his unfortunate friend, 
who had been torn to pieces and devoured by the fiend into whose hands 
he had fallen. The place was thence called the Glen of the Green Wo- 
men." This tale suggested the ballad of " Glenfinlas," or Lord Ro- 
nald's Coronach. 

The opening stanza strikes a chord of rude but stately wailing. 

O hone a rie' ! O hone a rie' ! 

The pride of Albin's line is o'er, 
And fallen Glenartney's stateliest tree; 

We ne'er shall see Lord Ronald more. 



134 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

The night-quarters occupied by tlie two chiefs during their hunting 
excursion is beautifully painted. It bespeaks an observant eye and deli- 
cate sense of the charms of nature; contrasting in this respect most 
advantageously with the common-place description of moonlight in 
Lord Byron's early attempt of a similar kind, " Oscar of Alva." 

In gray Glenfinlas' deepest nook 

The solitary cabin stood, 
Fast by Moneira's sullen brook, 

Which murmurs through that lonely wood. 

Soft fell the night, the sky was calm. 

When three successive days had flown; 
And summer mist in dewy balm 

Steep'd heathy bank and mossy stone. 

The moon, half hid in silvery flakes, 

Afar her dubious radiance shed, 
Quivering on Katrine's distant lakes, 

And resting on Benledi's head. 

There is a wild thrilling interest in the visit of the fair fiend to Moy 
when left alone by his companion, to which the versification responds 
admirably in some passages. 

Within an hour return'd each hound ; 

In rush'd the rousers of the deer; 
They howl'd in melancholy sound, 

Then closely couch beside the seer. 

No Ronald yet; though midnight came, 

And sad were Moy's prophetic dreams. 
As, bending o'er the dying flame, 

He fed the watch-fire's quivering gleams. 

Sudden the hounds erect their ears. 

And sudden cease their moaning howl; 
Close press'd to Moy, they mark their fears 

By shivering limbs and stifled growl. 

Untouch'd the harp began to ring, 

As softly, slowly, ope'd the door; 
And shook responsive every string, 

As light a footstep press'd the floor. 

And by the watch-fire's glimmering light. 

Close by the minstrel's side, was seen 
An huntress maid, in beauty bright, 

All dropping wet her robes of green. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 135 

All dropping wet her garments seem; 

Chill'd was her cheek, her bosom bare, 
As bending o'er the dying gleam. 

She wrung the moisture from her hair. 

The conclusion of the interview is touched with a bolder hand. 

He mutter'd thrice St. Oran's rhyme, 

And thrice St. Fillan's powerful prayer; 
Then turn'd him to the eastern clime. 

And sternly shook his coal-black hair. 

And bending o'er his harp, he flung 

His wildest witch-notes in the wind; 
And loud and high and strange they rung, 

As many a magic change they find. 

Tall wax'd the spirit's altering form, 

Till to the roof her stature grew; 
Then mingling with the rising storm, 

With one wild yell away she flew. 

Rain beats, hail rattles, whirlwinds tear. 

The slender hut in fragments flew; 
But not a lock of Moy's loose hair 

Was waved by wind or wet by dew. 

Wild mingling with the howling gale 

Loud bursts of ghastly laughter rise ; 
High o'er the minstrel's head they sail, 

And die amid the northern skies. 

The ballad is wound up by a repetition of the same stately cadence 
with which it commenced. 

Scott's satisfaction with the manner in which he had executed " Glen- 
finlas," induced him to comply with the request of his kinsman of Har- 
den to compose another ballad. The old tower of Smailholm, near 
which the poet's early days were passed, has already been alluded to. 
During the proprietor's absence some idle person had torn the iron- 
grating door from its hinges, and thrown it down the rock. Scott was 
an earnest suitor that the mischief should be repaired, and compliance 
with his request was promised under the condition that he should make 
a ballad, the scene of which should lie at the tower and among the crags 
amid which it is placed. This was the origin of " The Eve of St. 
John," a ballad of much deeper interest and more varied melody than 
" Glenfinlas." The story is well known. The following extracts may 
serve as specimens of the success with which it is told. 

^ % ■^ % , -^ *' 



13G LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

My lady each night sought tiie lonely light, 

That hums on the wild watchfold ; 
For from height to height the beacon bright 

Of the English foeraan told. 

The bittern clamour'd from the moss, 

The wind blew loud and shrill, 
Yet the craggy pathway she did cross 

To the eiry Beacon Hill. 

I watch'd her steps, and silent came 

Where she sat her on a stone; 
The watchman stood by the dreary flame, 

It burned all alone. 

The second night I kept her in sight 

Till to the fire she came. 
And, by Mary's might! an armed knight 

Stood by the lonely flame. 

And many a word that warlike lord 

Did speak to my lady there ; 
But the rain fell fast, and loud blew the blast. 

And I heard not what they were. 



" At the lone midnight hour, when bad spirits have power, 

In thy chamber will I be." 
With that he was gone, and my lady left alone. 

And no more did I see. 

Then changed, I trow, was that bold baron's brow, 

From the dark to the blood-red high; 
" Now tell me the mien of the knight thou hast seen. 

For by Mary he shall die !" 

" His arms shone full bright in the beacon's red light, 

His plume it was scarlet and blue ; 
On his shield was a hound, in a silver leash bound. 

And his crest was a branch of the yew." 

" Thou liest, thou liest, thou little foot-page; 

Loud dost thou lie to me ! 
For that knight is cold, and low laid in the mould 

All under the Eildon tree." 

" Yet hear but my word, my noble lord ! 

For I heard her name his name ; 
And that lady bright, she called the knight 

Sir Richard of Coldinghame." 

" The bold barons brow then changed 1 trow 
From high blood- red to pale — 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 137 

" The grave is deep and dark — and the corpse is stiff and stark ; 
I may not trust thy tale. 

" Where fair Tweed flows round holy Melrose, 

And Eildon slopes to the plain, 
Full three nights ago, by some secret foe. 

That gay gallant was slain. 

" The varying light deceived thy sight, 

And the wild winds drown'd the name; 
For the Dryburgh bells ring, and the white monks do sing. 

For Sir Richard of Coldinghame." — 



" Now hail, now hail, thou lady bright ! 

Now hail, thou baron true ! ' 

What news, what news, from Ancram fight.' 

What news from the bold Buccleuch.'" 

" The Ancram moor is red with gore. 

For many a southern fell ; 
And Buccleuch has charged us, evermore. 

To watch our beacons well." 

The lady blush'd red, but nothing she said; 

Nor added the baron a word ; 
Then she stept down the stair to her chamber fair, 

And so did her moody lord. 

In sleep the lady mourn'd, and the baron toss'd and turn'd. 
And oft to himself he said — 

" The worms around him creep, and his bloody grave is deep- 
It cannot give up the dead !" 

It was near the ringing of matin-bell, 

The night was well nigh done. 
When a heavy sleep on that baron fell. 

On the eve of good St. John. 

The lady look'd through the chamber fair. 

By the light of a dying flame ; 
And she was aware of a knight stood there — 

Sir Richard of Coldinghame ! 

"Alas! away, away!" she cried, 

" For the holy virgin's sake !" 
" Lady, I know who sleeps by thy side; 

But, lady, he will not awake." 



In perusing these two ballads, we become aware that the imagination 
of the poet has made an immense stride towards maturity. In " Glen- 
finlas," we find, doubtless, many traces of that conventional monotony, 



158 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

which chills and represses the rich gush of young genius, as the linger- 
ing frosts of winter dwarf the spring-flowers awakening into life. The 
versification reminds us, by its tame uniformity, strongly of Cumnor 
Hall. The arbitrary transformation of the heroes into chieftains has 
rendered necessary a violation of costume which the author himself ac- 
knowledges. " In one point, the incidents of the poem were irrecon- 
cilable with the costmne of the times in which they were laid. The 
ancient Highland chiefiains, when they had a mind to '■ hunt the dun 
deer down,' did not retreat into solitary bothies, or trust the success of 
the chase to their own unassisted exertions, without a single gillie to 
help them; they assembled their clan, and all partook of the sport, 
forming a ring, or enclosure, called the Tinchal, and driving the prey 
towards the most distinguished persons of the hunt. This course would 
not have suited me; so Ronald and Moy were cooped up in their soli- 
tary wigwam, like two moorfowl shooters of the present day." But the 
liberty taken with the simplicity of the original legend is blamable for 
another reason to which the author no where adverts. It indicates igno- 
rance of the real source of poetic emotion. The true poet does not re- 
ject rank and adventitious ornament, but neither does he seek them ; he 
relies upon the voice and gesture of passion, in whatever breast it may 
be awakened. By his tacit admission, that he thought the tale of the 
green woman unsusceptible of poetic ornament, unless told of two chief- 
tains, Scott shows himself ignorant of what really lends it its wild 
thrilling interest. He approaches to the bkmder of the authors of fairy 
tales in the old time, and fashionable novels in our own, who imagine 
that all interest centres in the coach and six, instead of the person who 
rides in it. But although Scott has by this means transferred the living 
story into a dead trunk, his genius has perhaps unawares hung it with 
some wreaths of real poetry. The description of the moonlight, which 
we have quoted above, is a leaf borrowed from nature — cool, fresh, and 
balmy. The visit of the unearthly female is a passage of more daz- 
z.ling though less healthy beauty. And there bursts at times a bold 
trumpet-note above the tiresome level of the sing-song stanza which he 
has adopted. 

" The Eve of St. John" stands, as a poem, immeasurably above 
" Glenfinlas." It is instinct with life; rough, warm, and bold. Even 
the rude carelessness of the versification is refreshing; for it shows that 
the author has burst the frail fetters that bound him ; and its continually 
recurring passages of inartificial melody are enhanced by the contrast. 
There is power in the tale. The very elements are swayed and direct- 
ed by a master of his art, who bends their soulless workings to his pur- 
poses. The persons of the brief drama are vividly sketched, and stand 
out in bold relief from each other ; the dark stern baron, the gay and 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 139 

finical knight, the frail but lovely lady, the shriveled imp of a page. 
We lurk with the boy behind a crag, and see the knight and the lady 
converse by the ruddy but uncertain gleam of the beacon-iire, while the 
gusts of elemental strife that rave and eddy round them drown their 
words. We see the deep blush and downcast eye of the lady, when her 
lord hints at the watching on the beacon-hill, and follow the tread of the 
silent but thoughtful pair to their chamber. The noiseless apparition of 
the murdered knight is ghastly; and, were he not too voluble and dif- 
fuse in his conversation for a spirit, would be one of the most impres- 
sive ghost scenes on record. In short, " The Eve of St. John" is a 
genuine product of the imagination as defined by Wordsworth;* it is 
an emanation from a creative mind. In all the former productions of 
Scott which we have had occasion to notice, we find traces of a richly 
stored mind, — in this do we first discover power and originality. Most 
probably he was not aware of the importance of the task to which he 
set himself, when, good-humouredly complying with the request of his 
cousin, he set himself to frame a tale as free from the constraint of cri- 
tical rules as the lawless metre in which it was told. This is not a 
solitary instance of a great mind first revealing its real character in the 
license of a genial hour, when indulging to the top of its bent some 
wayward humour. 

These two ballads, although not published, were circulated pretty 
widely in manuscript, and acquired for their author a considerable local 
reputation. As his military exertions had earned for him the patronage 
of one of the leading statesmen of the day, so his first essays in the art 

* " Imagination has no reference to images that are merely a faithful copy, ex- 
istino- in the mind, of absent external objects; but is a word of higher import, 
denoting operations of the mind upon tliese objects, and processes of creation or 
composition, governed by certain fixed laws. » * * Certain pro- 

cesses of the imagination are carried on either by conferring additional proper- 
ties upon an object, or abstracting from it some of those which it actually pos- 
sesses, and thus enabling it to react upon the mind which hath performed the 
process like a new existence. » * * gut t^he imagination also 

shapes and creates; and how.' By innumerable processes; and in none does it 
more delight than in that of consolidating numbers with unity, and dissolving 
and separating unity from number, — alterations proceeding from and governed 
by sublime consciousness of the soul in her own mighty and almost divine pow- 
ers. * * * I ghall spare myself and the reader the trouble 
of considering the imagination as it deals with thoughts and sentiments, as it re- 
gulates the composition of character, and determines the course of actions. I 
will not consider it (more than I have already done by implication,) as that power 
which, in the language of one of my most esteemed friends, ' draws all things 
to one, which makes things animate or inanimate, beings with their attributes, 
subjects with their accessaries, take one colour, and serve to one effect." — Pre- 
face to Wordsioorth's Poems, 8vo edition. 



140 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

of poetry procured for him many marks of kindness and attention from 
the most eminent bibliomaniac of the age. John, Duke of Roxburghe, 
the collector of those volumes from which the Roxburghe Club derives 
its name, was so struck with their merits, that Scott became a welcome 
visiter at the princely mansion of Fleurs, and was allowed unlimited ac- 
cess to the owner's books. Thus his taste for old literature, and the 
aristocratical bias of his mind, were at once gratified and confirmed. 
He has somewhere asserted, — " It is a mistake to suppose that my situa- 
tion in life or place in society were materially altered by such success as 
I attained in literary pursuits." But, notwithstanding this averment, it 
is pretty certain that had it not been for his poetical promise, the son of 
the Edinburgh writer would never have become an intimate visiter in the 
halls of Dalkeith and Fleurs. Be this, however, as it may, the flatter- 
ing and delicate attentions of titled personages determined his mind in 
the aristocratical bias already communicated to it. Imagination had 
taught him to bow before nobility; the tone of the circles in which he 
had hitherto moved, had inspired him with a keen desire to become the 
champion of its privileges in the field; and now kindness and marked 
attention won his affections. From this moment aristocracy had " mark- 
ed him for its own," — an event which materially affected his progress in 
life, and still more the character and temper of his writings. 

It is necessary, before quitting this branch of our subject, that we 
convey to the reader some notion of the reception which Scott's muse 
met with at the hands of the limited public to which she was introduced, 
and its reaction upon his mind. This cannot better be done than in his 
own words : — " Thus I was set up for a poet like a pedlar who has got 
two ballads to begin the world upon, and I hastened to make the round 
of all my acquaintances, showing my precious wares, and requesting 
criticism, — a boon which no author asks in vain. For it may be ob- 
served, that in the fine arts, those who are in no respect able to produce 
any specimens themselves, hold themselves not the less entitled to de- 
cide upon the works of authors ; and justly, no doubt, to a certain de- 
gree; for the merits of composition produced for the express purpose of 
pleasing the world at large, can only be judged of by the opinions of 
individuals, and perhaps, as in the case of Moliere's old woman, the less 
sophisticated the person consulted, so much the better. But I was ig- 
norant at the time I speak of, that tliough the applause of the many 
may justly appreciate the general merits of a piece, if is not so safe to 
submit such a performance to the more minute criticism of the same in- 
dividuals, when each, in turn, having seated himself in the censor's 
chair, has placed his mind in a critical attitude, and delivered his opi- 
nion sententiously and ex cathedra. General applause was in almost 
every case freely tendered, but the abatements in the way of proposed 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 141 

alterations and corrections were cruelly puzzling. It was in vain the 
young author, listening with becoming modesty, and with a natural wish 
to please, cut and carved, and coopered and tinkered upon his unfortu- 
nate ballads, — it was in vain that he placed, displaced, replaced and 
misplaced; every one of his advisers was displeased with the conces- 
sions made to his co-assessors, and the author was blamed by some 
one, in almost every case, for having made two holes in attempting to 
patch up one. 

" At last, after thinking seriously on the subject, I wrote out a fair 
copy, (of Glenfinlas, I think,) and marked all the various corrections 
that had been proposed. On the whole, I found that I had been re- 
quired to alter every verse, almost every line, and the only stanzas of 
the whole ballad which escaped criticism were such as neither could be 
termed good nor bad, speaking of them as poetry, but were of a mere 
common-place character, absolutely necessary for conducting the busi- 
ness of the tale. This unexpected result, after about a fortnight's 
anxiety, led me to adopt a rule, from which I have seldom departed 
during more than thirty years of Uterary life. When a friend, whose 
judgment I respect, has decided, and upon good advisement told me, 
that a manuscript was worth nothing, or at least possessed no redeem- 
ing qualities sufficient to atone for its defects, I have generally cast it 
aside; but I am little in the habit of paying attention to minute criti- 
cisms, or of offering such to any friend who may do me the honour to 
consult me. I am convinced that, in general, in removing even errors 
of a trivial or a venial kind, the character of originality is lost, which 
upon the whole may be that which is most valuable in the production." 
It can have been only a short time after the event recounted in the 
above quotation, that the ballads in question fell into the hands of Monk 
Lewis, a specimen of whose criticism (expressed in letters to the author) 
is worthy of being preserved, as characteristic of the kind of literary 
Mentors, to whose tutelage Scott was subjected in his youth. " Thank 
you for revised ' Glenfinlas.' I grumble, but say no more on this sub- 
ject, although I hope you will not be so inflexible on that of your other 
ballads; for I do not despair of convincing you in time, that a had 
rhyme is, in fact, no rhyme at all. You desired me to point out my 
objections, leaving you at liberty to make use of them or not." With 
this preface, he introduces some minute criticisms on the translated bal- 
lads which have been noticed above. His remarks upon " William and 
Helen" may serve for a sample. 

" In order that I may bring it nearer the orignal title, pray introduce 
in the first stanza the name of Ellenora instead of Ellen. ^Crusade' 
and '■sped' not rhymes in the second. In the 4th, '■Joy'' and '■victory'' 
are not rhymes. 7th. The first line wants a verb, otherwise it is not 



142 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

intelligible. 13th. ' Grace' and ' Wiss' are not rhymes. 14th. ^ Bale' 
and ^heW are not rhymes. 16th. ' VaM and ^fruitless' is tautology; 
and as a verb is wanted, the line will run better thus, 'And vain is 
every prayer.' 19th. Is not '■to her'' absolutely necessary in the fourth 
line? 20th. ' G^race' and ^ bliss' not rhymes. 21st. <■ BaW and '■helV 
not rhymes. 22d. I do not like the word '^ spent.'' 23d. ^ 0''er'' and 
*sj!ar' are vile rhymes. 26th. A verb is wanted in the 4th line; better 
thus, 'When whispers thus a voice.' 28th. Is not 'Is't thou my love,' 
better than 'my love, my love.' 31st. If '■wighV means, as I conjec- 
ture, ^enchanted,'' does not this let the cat out of the bag? Ought not 
the spur to be sharp rather than bright? In the fourth line, ' Stay^ and 
^day^ jingle together; would it not be better, 'I must be gone ere day?' 
32d. ' Steed'' and ' bed'' are not rhymes. 34th. ' Bride' and ' bed'' are 
not rhymes. 35th. ' (Sea/' and 'at^aiZ' are not rhymes. 39th. '^ Keep 
hold'' and ^sitfasf seem to my ear vulgar and prosaic. 40th. The 
fourth line is defective in point of English ; and indeed I do not quite 
understand the meaning. 43d. '■Arise' and 'pursuers' are not rhymes. 
45th. I am not pleased with the epithet 'savage;^ and the latter part of 
the stanza is, to me, unintelligible. 49th. Is it not closer to the origi- 
nal in line third to say, ' Swift ride the dead ?' 50th. Does the rain 
* whistle?' 55th, hne third. Does it express, ' Is Helen afraid of them?' 
59th. ' Door^ and 'flower^ do not rhyme together. 60th. ' Seared^ and 
*^ heard'' are not rhymes. 63d. '■Bone'' and 'sA-eZefo/i' are not rhymes. 
64th. The last line sounds ludicrous ; one fancies the heroine coming 
down with a plump, and sprawling upon her bottom. I have now finished 
iny severe examination, and pointed out every objection which I think 
can be suggested." 

This is a bead-roll of blunders to cast in the teeth of a young versifier ! 
It must have been edifying to have seen Scott perusing for the first time 
the letter which contained these cavalier strictures. The best of the 
joke is, that were every fault here pointed out removed, the essentials of 
the ballad would remain untouched. It might be an excellent poem 
with all these blemishes ; it might not be worth a farthing even after 
they were removed. It is true, that a translation which can scarcely be 
regarded in a moi'« important point of view than a metrical exercise, is 
inore justly obnoxious to word-catching strictures than any other piece 
of composition. Lewis's remarks on " Glenfinlas" and "St. John's Eve," 
are rather more to the point. 

" Your last ballad reached me just as I was stepping into my chaise 
to go to Brocket Hall, (Lord Melbourne's,) so I took it with me, and 
exhibited both that and Glenfinlas with great success. I must not, how- 
ever, conceal from you, that nobody understood the Lady Flora of 
Glengyle to be a disguised demon till the catastrophe arrived ; and that 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 140 

the opinion was universal, that some previous stanzas ought to be intro- 
duced, descriptive of the nature and office of the roayioard Ladies of 
the Wood. William Lambe, too, (who writes good verses himself, and 
therefore may be allowed to judge those of other people,) was decidedly 
for the omission of the last stanza but one. These were the only objec- 
tions started. I thought it as well that you should know them, whether 
you attend to them or not. With regard to St. John's Eve, I like it 
much; and instead of finding fault with its broken metre, I approve of it 
highly. I think in this last ballad, you have hit off the ancient manner 
better than in your former ones. Glenfinlas, for example, is more like 
a polished tale than an old ballad. But why, in verse 6th, is the baron^s 
helmet hacked and hewed, if, (as we are given to understand,) he had 
assassinated his enemy ? Ought not t07'e to be torn ? Tore seems to me 
not English. In verse 1 6th, the last line is word for word from Gil 
Morrice. 21st. ^ Floor'' and '■hower'' are not rhymes," &c. &c. 

It is evident from these letters that Lewis well deserved the designa- 
tion, long afterwards conferred upon him by Scott, of " a martinet in 
the accuracy of rhymes and numbers." In the spirit of defiance to all 
criticism, however, which the pupil had adopted, the pertinacious lec- 
tures of the professor were for the time fruitless. Scott has himself told 
us that they " did not at the time produce any effect on his inflexibility ; 
though," he adds, " I did not forget them at a future period." The 
mechanical dexterity, so indispensable to give decision and effect to the 
works even of genius, is always undervalued by youth. 

We must now retrace our steps to take up again the dropped thread 
of Scott's personal adventures; for in tracing his literary career, we 
have shot somewhat ahead of his domestic history. We left him busied 
with cavalry manoeuvres, and trials before the Court of Justiciary. These 
occupations, however, although they recommended him to the notice of 
the influential persons, who at a subsequent period materially forwarded 
the growth of his fortunes, were for the time productive of little emolu- 
ment. Nay, the former, conjoined with his notorious literary habits^ 
diminished not a little the respect which his talents might otherwise 
have infused into the solicitors and other agents, (qvoctinqiie nomine 
gavdent,) with whom lies in a great measure the dispensing of business 
in the parUament house. Our young advocate still continued to inhabit 
the paternal mansion, but it had ceased in a great measure to be a plea- 
sant abode to him. His father, a man who by unrelaxing minute indus- 
try, had battled his way to fortune, was chagrined at what he accounted 
the indolence of his son. The more social habits, and freer languase 
of the young man jarred upon the cherished prejudices of the inveterate 
formalist. Late hours, (late in comparison with those he had been 
accustomed to keep,) the frequenting of the theatre and yeomanry messes, 



144 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

were in his eyes incompatible with the duties of the drudge of the law 
he fain would have transformed his son into. The ascetic principle 
continued to gain the ascendancy in the religious views of Mrs. Scott, 
and she too joined in the remonstrances, by which her partner succeeded 
in rendering home irksome to a mind inspired by robust health with a 
huge appetite for the innocent pleasures of society. 

Like many worthy but narrow-minded people, they were in the habit 
of making their complaints against their children a frequent topic of 
their gossips with their favourite servants. At least one of the individuals 
to whom these confidential outpourings of bitterness were intrusted, ven- 
tured, on the strength of the length and fidelity of her services, to 
remonstrate with Walter. Being somewhat of a puritan, she even went 
further, and strove to open his eyes to the enormity of his conduct in 
defending persons accused of crimes. Once, when she was lifting her 
voice against the sin of pleading a bad cause, he told her : — " I have 
nothing to do with the badness of it ; my business is to make it good." 
On another occasion he broke out with a complaint to the same good 
lady, which shows that with all his interest in other pursuits, he was as 
anxious for success in his avocation as those whose thoughts never 
traveled beyond it : — " One of my profession never gets flesh to eat till 
he has no teeth to eat it with." This delegation of the task of sermon- 
ising to menials must have been even more revolting to an ingenuous 
mind than the continually recurring paternal objurgations. More than 
one of his friends remember to have noted in him at this time a grow- 
ing inclination to fly from home to the company of his favourite asso- 
ciates. 

To these disagreeables another conjoined itself, the pressure of which 
has been felt by most men at one period of their life or another. The 
parsimonious allowance of his father, unaugmented by any gains of his 
own, was insufficient to meet the expenditure which the society he 
mingled with rendered unavoidable, and he was thus led to contract 
debts. The philosopher who seeks to estimate every evil by the real 
amount of its pressure, the poor man who has seen starvation look him 
gauntly in the face, may treat with derision the annoyances of one who 
was not exposed to actual penury, but they were teasing enough not- 
withstanding. There is something inexpressibly galling to a proud 
mind untamed by a long train of adversity, to a delicate mind rendered 
morbidly sensitive by being educated in the lap of comfort, to be assail- 
ed by creditors, and yet fear to have recourse to the severe friend upon 
whom alone it has a valid claim for relief. To the incessant gnawing 
of this petty misery, Scott had for some time been exposed, when the 
death of his uncle early in 1797, left him proprietor of Rosebank. The 
sale of the properly relieved him from his trifling embarrassments ; but 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 145 

in getting rid of this source of annoyance he incurred another scarcely 
less provoking. All the old ladies of his acquaintance who had sympa- 
thised with the honest captain in his pride at the thought that his name 
should live in the land after his decease, set up their throats against the 
graceless nephew who had frustrated so fair a prospect. " Aunt Jenny 
had found men going about picking flowers, &c. before her brother was 
buried : agents to take possession for the debt or for the purchaser." 
One half of the stories told were lies, and the other half grossly exag- 
gerated, but they were not the less annoying on that account. To make 
the matter worse. Aunt Jenny, in the kind simplicity of her soul, felt 
annoyed at the unavoidable frustration of her brother's favourite 
scheme, and a temporary coldness took place between her and her 
favourite nephew. 

It was about this time that Scott paid a visit to the watering place of 
Gilsland, situated near the border in a wild uncultivated district of the 
north of England. The charitable tabbies he left behind him vowed 
that he had fled thither from the wrath of Aunt Jenny. This is too 
ridiculous; but there can be little doubt, that uncomfortably as he felt 
himself cii'cumstanced at home, his natural inclination for visiting new 
scenes must have been greatly strengthened. It was here that he first 
met Miss Carpenter, whom he afl;erwards married. 

Scott's amatory propensities never seem to have exercised such an 
undue influence over him as to interrupt his steady progress through 
life, with the staid uniform gait of external decorum. He was not how- 
ever free, any more than his neighbours, from the visitations of that 
passion which swayed from his bias the wisest of men, and what is 
more, in a moral point of view, " the man after God's own heart." 
Like an eminent character between whom and our hero no stronger 
link of connexion exists than the apt expression of a sentiment, — 
" though there was no character he more despised than the mere man 
of pleasure, he was not an absolute Joseph neither." 

But Scott, although no more privileged from lapses than other men, 
was of too noble a nature to abandon himself to the control of sen- 
suality. He nourished a purer flame, and his first love flew a bold 
flight. It was fixed upon a daughter of Sir William Forbes, the same 
lady who afterwards married the late Glengary.* The solid intrinsic 
value of a character like his rarely succeeds, however, in winning the 
affections of woman, which are more easily captivated by what is bril- 
liant and striking. Without eminence of any kind, or personal charms 
to back his suit, he proved the fate of a rejected lover. It is not often 

* Another version assigns the honour of inspiring his first and shghted love 
to Miss lielshes of Inverraay. 

T 



146 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

that we can trace the echo of Scott's personal feelings in his writings. 
They are, to a wonderful degree, free from a weakness incident to all 
his cotemporaries, — the morbid vehemence with which they thrust them- 
selves and their individual feelings into the foreground of all their pic- 
tures. In his description, however, of the feelings of a rejected lover, 
we think that we can see the impress of experience more legibly than 
in any other passages of his works. The vague and careless indigna- 
tion in which scorned love is apt to vent itself, has never been more 
truly depicted than in the persons of Frank Osbaldistone, Mordaunt 
Merton, and Markham Everard. But the growth and transference of 
his own passion is most apparently shadowed out in Waverley, upon 
whom the author has bestowed more of the attributes of his own cha- 
racter than any other of his heroes. Flora M'lvor's vindication of 
Shakspeare's tact in drawing the character of Romeo, as being sup- 
posed to indicate, and in some measure occasion the transfer of Waver- 
ley's affections from herself to Rose Bradv/ardine, may form a not in- 
appropriate mode of transition from this theme to the history of Scott's 
brief and uneventful course of love. 

"The ladies, of course, declared loudly in favour of Romeo, but this 
opinion did not go undisputed. The mistress of the house, and several 
other ladies, severely reprobated the levity with which the hero trans- 
fers his affections from Rosalind to Juliet. Flora remained silent until 
her opinion was repeatedly requested, and then answered, she thought 
the circumstance objected to not only reconcilable to nature, but such 
as in the highest degree evinced the art of the poet. 'Romeo is de- 
scribed,' said she, ' as a young man, peculiarly susceptible of the softer 
passions; his love is at first fixed upon a woman who could afford it 
no return; this he repeatedly tells you, — 

From love's weak childish bow she lives uncharm'd; 
and again — 

She hath forsworn to love. 

Now, as it was impossible that Romeo's love, supposing him a reason- 
able being, could continue to subsist without hope, the poet has, with 
great art, seized the moment when he was reduced actually to despair, 
to throw in his way an object more accomplished than her by whom he 
was rejected, and who is disposed to repay this attachment. I can 
scarce conceive a situation more calculated to enhance the ardour of 
Romeo's affection for Juliet than his being at once raised by her from 
the state of drooping melancholy, in which he appears first upon the 
scene, to the ecstatic state in which he exclaims — 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 147 



come what sorrow can, 



It cannot countervail the excliange of joy 
That one short moment gives me in her sight.' " 

This doctrine holds true, not only of such desperate innamoratoes as 
Romeo, but of more rational lovers also. And hence the impression 
made upon Mr. Walter Scott by Miss Margaret Charlotte Carpenter, 
who is described to us by an eye-witness as having been " a most lovely 
creature, with a profusion of dark hair, a fine pale skin, and an elegant 
and slender person." The lady was ostensibly the daughter of a mer- 
chant of Lyons, of the name of John Carpenter; but there were whis- 
pers (never satisfactorily contradicted) that her nominal guardian, the 
Marquis of Downshire, stood in a closer affinity to her. She was amia- 
ble and accessible, and understood to have a portion of £400 per an- 
num in her own right. These qualities, conjoined with her beauty, 
were no contemptible objects in the eyes of one who had passed the 
period when, to use his own words, "a youth is entering life, and rather 
looking out for some object whose affection may dignify him in his own 
eyes, than stooping to one who looks up to him for such distinction." 
At all events, he attached himself to Miss Carpenter; and, assisted by 
the facilities which the manners of a watering place afford to those en- 
gaged in an affaire du c(Bur, " told her his tale, and was a thriving 
wooer." After a protracted correspondence with Lord Downshire, the 
marriage was agreed upon, and the young couple were united at Car- 
lisle, on the 24th of December, 1797. It was probably about this time 
that, out of compliment to his lady, he transferred his allegiance from 
the Presbyterian Kirk, in the bosom of which he had been educated, to 
the Episcopalian Church. It is not for man to presume to read the 
heart; but, as far as we can judge from word and deed, rehgion was 
with Scott more a sentiment than a vital and influential principle. The 
same vaeue reverential feeling which animated his childhood continued 
to sanctify his maturer feelings, although overborne, from time to time, 
by the strong full pulse of busy manhood. But religion was not with 
him as with a few happily constituted natures, the animating motive 
and regulating principle of all his actions. 

Above any other people on the face of the earth, the middle classes 
in Great Britain are averse to intermarriages with foreigners. Miss 
Carpenter's French blood would of itself have been enough to annoy 
the Scotts ; but the rumours regarding her paternity excited their vehe- 
ment indignation. The young lady was accompanied by a Miss Ni- 
cholson, who was reported to be her mother, to whom she certainly 
paid much deference, although there was not the most distant resem- 
blance in their faces and figures. Aunt Jenny, and all the spinsters of 



148 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

the line and lineage of Scott, called a council of war, to deliberate whe- 
ther they could in decency visit the young couple whilst this suspicious 
person remained with them. The debate was summed up by a lady, 
to whom we have more than once had occasion to refer, who, with 
equal good sense and determination, declared, that " so long as she be- 
haved herself properly, it was nothing to them who the devil she was." 
Scott's father and mother made their complaints ring in all quarters, 
asking the very servants who young Mrs. Scott was, to give greater 
notoriety to their discontent. 

All this niaiserle passed unseen, at least unnoticed by Walter. He 
led his bride home to a house which he had prepared for her in the 
second flat of No. 108, George's Street, and quickly set himself to the 
enjoyment of domestic quiet, sweetened by literary pursuits, and varied 
by the active calls of his profession and volunteer engagements. That 
this rational unromantic scheme of household comfort was all he con- 
templated, is strikingly shown by two of his speeches to friends about 
this time. To an old and attached domestic, who reproached him with 
having contracted a marriage which caused vexation to his parents, he 
answered in a half apologetic manner, " that it would keep him at home 
at nights." To a witty friend, who took the liberty of rallying him on 
his selection of a wife, he said, " she would bring him bairns, and not 
interfere with his work, and that was all he cared for." He lived long 
enough to know that kindly and amiable dispositions, unless engrafted 
upon strict principle and a strong mind, were no sufficient guarantee 
for happiness in the married slate. But at this time, no such fore- 
bodings haunted him. He had health, a young, pretty and amiable 
wife, and a competent income, with the prospect of speedy promotion. 
He spent the winter in Edinburgh, mixing with the elite of its society, 
and the summer vacation in a cottage beautifully situated in the valley 
of the Esk, a little way above Lasswade. He remained with his lady 
in the town and country houses which 'they first occupied, during the 
years 1798-99. 

He continued to fill the office of Curator of the Advocates' Library, 
for both of these years. In the course of the first, a discussion occur- 
red, and was renewed at different times, respecting one of the MS. vo- 
lumes preserved in that collection, which, as it in all probability directed 
Scott's attention to a record of one of our Scotish Church Courts, ought 
not to be passed over in silence. What the nature of these discussions 
were, will best appear from the memoranda respecting them preserved 
in the minute-book of the Faculty. 

''Edinburgh, 19th May, 1798. 

* * * * * * 

" Mr. Graham Dalyell laid before the Faculty an application made 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 149 

by the Presbytery of Aberdeen, to the Curators of the Library, to re- 
turn them the Presbytery book of Aberdeen, now in the Library. Mr. 
Macleod Bannatyne moved that the Faculty should remit to the Cura- 
tors as a committee, instructions to examine the nature of the manu- 
script, and report at the next meeting of the Faculty ; and in the mean 
time, they shall inform the Presbytery that the Faculty have taken their 
request into consideration." 



^^ Edinburgh, 2d June, 1798. 

" The Curators, according to the instructions of the Faculty, having 
examined the Presbytery book of Aberdeen, are of opinion that the 
writing has been executed about the end of the 16th century, and the 
beginning of the 17th century. It comprehends a period of twelve 
years, from 1598 to 1610; and nearly the whole seems to be written 
in the same hand. None of the resolutions or minutes of the Presby- 
tery are signed by the moderator. The Curators are uncertain what 
was the custom respecting this. The greater part of the manuscript 
consists in censures for adultery and fornication; the rest chiefly ordi- 
nances for the visitation of kirks and manses." 

''Edinburgh, 9th Jidy, 1798. 

" The Faculty again took under consideration the application of the 
Presbytery of Aberdeen, and were of opinion that this application ought 
not to be complied with ; but that the Curators might permit the Pres- 
bytery to take a copy of the manuscript at their own expense." 

Another subject which occupied the attention of the Curators during 
the years 1798-99, was the provision of accommodation for their ra- 
pidly accumulating collection of books, and the farther processes of 
classifying and cataloguing thereby rendered necessary. 

"Edinburgh, 30th June, 1798. 
"Mr. Graham Dalyell, one of the Curators of the hbrary, repre- 
sented the necessity of providing farther room for containing the books 
that were rapidly increasing in the library, and suggested the propriety 
of fitting up a gallery in the Regal-rooms for that purpose." 



A plan and estimate of expense were submitted along with this re- 



150 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

commendation ; both of which were approved of by the Faculty. The 
ulterior measures alluded to above were not attempted till next year. 

''Edinburgh, 2d March, 1799. 
"A report was submitted from the Curators of the library to the fol- 
lowing effect? — 1st. That a new catalogue should be printed. 2d. That 
seeing books and manuscripts have been lost, from the unlimited num- 
ber of books members were entitled to borrow, and retain for an imli- 
mited time, a call of books ought to be made, and new regulations 
adopted. 3d. That the session papers be not lent out." 

These suggestions were carried into effect during the following year; 
but Scott's limited service, as curator, having by that time expired, he 
does not seem to have taken any part in the transaction. Thus much 
as to his share in the private business of the association to which he be- 
longed : his appearance in the court of justiciary, during the two years, 
the events of which we are now reviewing, are limited to one occasion. 
This trial also was occasioned by the array of raw and undisciplined 
soldiery which now garrisoned the island, and throws additional light 
upon the character of those troops. 

We have already met at Tranent with the Pembrokeshire Fencible 
Cavalry : it is to them that our tale relates. They consisted, in a great 
measure, of young and fiery Welshmen, new to the military profession, 
and not very amenable to its strict line of duty. On the evening of the 
9th of March, 1799, Serjeant Owen Jenkins, and one or two other non- 
commissioned officers of the same regiment, among whom was Poloty, 
the serjeant-major, were drinking in the house of a Mrs. Dawson. The 
conversation turned upon their respective companions, and the soldier- 
like appearance of their men. At last they fell into a hot dispute as to 
who was the tallest man in the regiment. One named one person, an- 
other another, till a voice from a neighbouring apartment contradicted 
them all, averring that a person not previously mentioned was the tallest 
man. The voice was recognised to be that of Butler, a private in the 
regiment, whose turn it was that evening to mount guard, and who had 
evidently transgressed the limits of duty in straying so far from the pre- 
cincts of the guard-house. The rest of the serjeants insisted that Jen- 
kins, to whose troop Butler belonged, should seize the delinquent ; and 
on his asking time to drink off his liquor, taunted him with inability to 
preserve discipline among the men intrusted to his command. Already 
excited by liquor, and smarting under the jeers of his companions, Jen- 
kins, a strong, active young man, laid hold of Butler, to convey him to 
the guard-house, and dragged him rather roughly from the tavern. No 
one followed them, but an inhabitant of the town, attracted by the noise 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 151 

in the street below his window, looked out. The night was dark, but by 
the dim light of a lamp, and immediately beneath it, he saw two per- 
sons struggling, one of whom seemed to be beating the other with the 
flat of his sword. The on-looker overheard the beaten person say in a 
frank and conciliatory tone : — " Well, sergeant ! give me thy hand and 
I'll go along with thee : only let me stop to gather up my plume of 
feathers." The serjeant, however, continued his blows, and the prison- 
er grappled with him. Amid the struggle they were lost in darkness, 
and a few moments later Jenkins burst into Dawson's tavern streaming 
with blood. It afterwards appeared that he had received no less than 
four deep stabs with a bayonet in his side and breast, inflicted by But- 
ler, who followed him, and allowed himself to be secured without re- 
sistance. 

The trial of the homicide took place on the 27th of May, before the 
high court of judiciary, when Mr. Walter Scott, whose success in the 
case of the Tranent rioters had raised his name in the district, appeared 
as counsel. He does not appear to have made much previous investi- 
gation, for no precognition was at any time instituted in behalf of the 
accused, with a view to detect discrepancies of statement or alleviating 
circumstances. Twelve witnesses were examined on the part of the 
prosecution, among whom was the gentleman who had witnessed the af- 
fray under the lamp. The nature of his evidence was strongly dwelt 
upon by Scott in his address on behalf of the prisoner; and although 
proved sufficient to procure for him the mitigated verdict of " culpable 
homicide," the deadly intent with which the blows were evidently given, 
however, and the violation of discipline implied in the whole transaction, 
drew down upon Butler a sentence more severe than is usually awarded 
to the culpable homicide, transportation for fourteen years. 

Scott's first reward for his devotion to the party in power was allotted 
to him at the close of 1799. His appointment to the sheriffdom of Sel- 
kirkshire bears date the 16th of December in that year. It was then 
the uniform practice to bestow these semi-sinecures for political services 
alone, without the slightest regard to the talents or legal accomplishments 
of the person promoted ; and although it does not appear that either at 
the time of his nomination or subsequently Scott possessed a deep or ac- 
curate knowledge of the law, it were to be wished that all appointments 
to the office of sheriff'-depute had been equally unobjectionable. He pos- 
sessed at any rate energy and sagacity. His circumstances might now 
be regarded as moderately opulent ; for in addition to his salary as she- 
riff", and the annuity of Mrs. Scott, he had lately received an accession 
to his capital by the death of his father. The whole family were amply 
provided for ; his brother Thomas, who had been bred to his father*s 
profession, succeeded to his business, and thus fortune might well be said 



152 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

to smile upon him, not only in his own person, but in that of each of his 
nearest and clearest relations. 

His style of living was adapted to his income, neither mean nor os- 
tentatious. He was fond of seeing his friends about him, especially in 
a quiet way on a Sunday evening. This dereliction from that stern ju- 
daical celebration of the day in his father's house annoyed his mother, 
who resided a short time with him after the death of her husband; but 
afterwards occupied a house of her own, chiefly on account of the irre- 
concilable nature of their views on this head. His country residence, 
we are told, was plainly but comfortably furnished. A lady nearly re- 
lated to him, visiting one day at Lasswade a few months after his mai'- 
riage, found him appareled in a linen jacket and apron, with a long 
brush in his hand, busily engaged in painting his drawing-room. On 
finding himself surprised in this dishabille, he laughingly threw aside his 
accoutrements, and insisted that as a penalty for taking him at unawares 
they should remain his prisoners during the day. They consented to 
stay dinner, and he gave the freest scope to his playful humour during 
the whole evening. 

Mr. (now Sir John) Stoddart, who, during his tour in Scotland, vi- 
sited the cottage at Lasswade, has paid an eloquent tribute to the plea- 
sant days be spent there. Speaking of the vicinity, he says, — " The 
circumstance which peculiarly endears this spot to me, is the residence 
of my friend, Mr. Walter Scott, whose poetical talents are too well 
known to receive any accession of praise from me. I shall have a fu- 
ture occasion to speak of the pleasure and instruction which I derived 
from the society of such a companion in a subsequent part of my tour; 
yet I cannot withhold the immediate expression of my feelings; they 
obUge me to say something, and the fear of doing them injustice pre- 
vents me from saying much. Though we cannot pay the debts of 
friendship in public, we should not be ashamed to acknowledge them : 
this false shame of our best feelings has indeed become almost fashion- 
able, but is a fashion ominous to general morals, and destructive of in- 
dividual happiness. I cannot believe but that a reader of taste would 
be delighted with even a slight copy of that domestic picture, which 1 
contemplated with so much pleasure during my short visit to my friend, 
— a man of native kindness and cultivated talent, passing the intervals 
of a learned profession amidst scenes highly favourable to his poetic in- 
spirations, not in a churlish and rustic solitude, but in the daily exercise 
of the most precious sympathies, as a husband, a father, and a friend. 
To such an inhabitant, the simple unostentatious elegance of the cottage 
of Lasswade is well suited, and its image will never recur to my memory 
without a throng of those pleasing associations whose outline I have 
faintly sketched." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 153 

The circle in which Scott moved now inchided all that was distin- 
guished for rank or literature in his native city. The rising poet, the 
ornament of his party, whose poems were read by Matthew Lewis to 
the literary coteries of England's exclusives, and who was patronised 
and introduced into society under the auspices of the Dukes of Buc- 
cleuch and Roxburghe, was a person whose acquaintance was eagerly 
sought after. Under the roofs of the Duchess of Gordon and Lady 
Charlotte Campbell, he had occasion to meet the most distinguished 
strangers who visited Edinburgh. Among others, it is deserving of par- 
ticular notice, that he was repeatedly in company with Mrs. Siddons 
during her professional visits. At the house of a lady, who still sur- 
vives to tell the story, he was one evening called upon to give a speci- 
men of his talents for improvisatore story-telling. The audience con- 
sisted, among others, of the great tragedian, and Henry Erskine. It is 
with regret we add, that the only account our informant can give us of 
the tale is, that " it was about Coimbra, and shockingly tiresome." In 
these gay scenes our hero mingled with more safety than poor Burns, 
for his rank and prospects in his profession gave him in some sort a 
claim to admission on a footing of equality. It was not in his case a 
repetition of the fable of the vessel of clay which had strayed into the 
society of the vessels of brass. He was not poor, and to be " thrown 
regardless by," when the curiosity or silly patronising mood of his 
titled friends was sufficiently gratified. His character of poet only 
served to enhance his claims to attention, to expose him to the blandish- 
ments of beauty and fashion. We find more than one of his minor 
poems composed at this period, " at the request" of ladies of rank. 
Even the Lay of the Last Minstrel was occasioned by such a petition. 

His most intimate associate at this time seems to have been William 
Erskine, afterwards Lord Kinneder, to whom he repeatedly and in 
strong terms expressed his gratitude for literary advice. To judge by 
the very few specimens of Erskine's powers which have met the public 
view, he must have possessed a polished mind and correct taste, without 
one spark of genius. Or, to express ourselves more strongly, he must 
have been one of those common-place and superficial thinkers, who, on 
the ground of their never going far wrong, take it upon them to con- 
trol and direct the energies of judgment. Habitual deference, and 
esteem based on the qualities of the heart, have more or less blended 
every man of genius to the presumption of some such monitor of this 
kind. In the dedication to Erskine, prefixed to one of the cantos of 
Marmion, Scott enumerates the topics which his friend was in the habit 
of recommending to his muse. It is evident that Erskine's ideas of the 
fiinest subjects of poetry were limited to the theme of a birth-day ode, 



154 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

dressed up in stately heroic lines, remarkable only for the monotonous 
*' return of still expected rhymes." 

A kindred taste for the antiquities of their native country formed a 
bond of union between Scott and the late Lord Woodhouselee. The 
same affinity of sentiments drew him into relations of intimacy with 
Mr. Heber, who established his residence in Edinburgh during the win- 
ter of 1799-1800. This gentleman, remarkable for the urbanity and 
kindness of his disposition, was one of those who " would willingly sit 
up night after night to collate various editions, and note various read- 
ings." He was a prowler about book-stalls, a zealous collector of for- 
gotten volumes. In addition to his accomplishments as a classical 
scholar, Mr. Heber was intimately vcrsant in the older literature of 
England. He had pushed his researches beyond the ballad literature, 
upon which cold scent the disciples of the bishop of Dromore still kept 
puzzling, into the deeper and more fertile fields of the Elizabethan dra- 
ma; a province, the labourers in which, hitherto little better than word- 
hunters, had a more genial spirit breathed into them, about this time, 
or not long afterwards, by the fine-thoughted effusions of Charles Lamb. 
Under the auspices of Heber, Scott extended his acquaintance with 
Shakspeare to the writings of his scarcely less gigantic contemporaries, 
and received from the well-stored mind of his new friend, a rich addi- 
tion to his store of curious and out-of-the-way knowledge. 

It was to Heber that Scott owed his first introduction to John Leyden ; 
and in adverting to the commencement of the friendship contracted by 
the refined virtuoso for that bluff specimen of Scotish learning, we find 
for the first time an opportunity of introducing a name since long and 
intimately connected with literature. Archibald Constable had, not 
long before the period of which we now speak, begun business as a 
bookseller, in a nai-row dingy shop in the High street. The most pro- 
fitable branch of his trade was the sale of Heinneccius' Pandects to the 
law students. But possessing a taste for curious and ancient books, he 
was gradually amassing a rich store of those baits for the bibliomaniac. 
As a law-stationer it was that he formed his acquaintance with the fu- 
ture conductors of the Edinburgh Review ; as an antiquarian booksel- 
ler, he connected liimself with a very different class of literati ; and on 
the strength of these connections, prompted by a bold and speculative 
inclination, he commenced that career which has linked his name indis- 
solubly with the history of the literature of our age, and will give us 
occasion to introduce him to the reader's notice once and again during 
the continuation of our narrative. A bookseller's shop, like misery, 
" brings a man acquainted with strange bedfellows," and on this occa- 
sion it brought about an intimacy between two men of the most dissi- 
milar tempers. Heber, we are told by Scott, " was a frequenter, of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 155 

course, of Mr. Constable's shop, where he made many valuable acquisi- 
tions at a rate very different from the exactions of the present day. In 
these researches he formed an acquaintance with Leyden, who exam- 
ined, as an amateur, the shelves which Mr. Heber ransacked as a pur- 
chaser." 

Leyden was one of the most peculiar characters in a circle of young 
men devoted to literary pursuits, who enjoyed the patronage of Dr. 
Robert Anderson, the first man of letters who published a complete edi- 
tion of the English poets. They were visited by occasional glances of 
countenance from the Earl of Buchan, but his supercilious and parsimo- 
nious notice was nothing to the warm friendship of the worthy doctor. 
He edited, for some time, a publication called " The Bee," and subse- 
quently, to the close of its career, the Edinburgh Magazine. There 
was always a seat vacant at his fireside for young men of promise, be 
their original rank in life what it may ; and not unfrequently a nook in 
his Magazine for their effusions. Hence his house became the rendez- 
vous of all those youths of talent and genius, many of them fated to 
bear a distinguishing name afterwards in the literary annals of their 
country, who, sprung from the very humblest classes of society, laboured 
hard and fared sparely to satiate that intense desire for advancement in 
fame and fortune, which, we are proud to reflect, has ever been a distin- 
guished characteristic of our native peasantry. Amongst these, it is 
true, mingled some whose worldly prospects seemed budding more pro- 
misingly, but still not so glowing as to prove a passport into those 
exclusive circles where fashion, fortune, or high birth, is reckoned indis- 
pensable to entitle the individual to the rites and courtesies of hospitality. 
Around this man of genuine benevolence, if not of lofty genius, were 
gathered at this time a band of young men, destined to fight their way 
to notoriety, by their own unaided exertions, and despite all the frowns 
of fortune. 

Dr. Thomas Brown, the amiable and ingenuous philosopher, was one 
of this " enlightened few." The surpassing qualities of this eminent 
man, equally as a scholar, a metaphysician, and a Christian, are yet too 
fresh in the memory of the present generation to need any retrospective 
notice here. His power of mental analysis was remarkably subtile: 
but the style of his rhetoric was perhaps too inflated and ambitiously 
ornamented, for an effective instructor of youth. He seems to have 
laboured even painfully hard to attain the distinction of a poet, and pub- 
lished a volume of fugitive pieces, the longest of which, the "War 
Fiend," was, else we mistake much, an ambitious attempt at emulating 
the translations and imitations of the German ballads, with the admira- 
tion of which the whole literary world around him was then filled. These 
juvenile effusions may now be considered, to use the favourite expression 



156 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

of Jonathan Oldbuck, as scarcely " in rerum natura ;" and, however 
creditable to him as proofs of a youthful and praiseworthy enthusiasm, 
we notice them here merely as affording a remarkable instance of highly 
polished versification, and beautiful, nay, sometimes impassioned senti- 
ment, with scarcely one poetical idea throughout. As the Ettrick Shep- 
herd is somewliere represented as saying, (certainly with as much 
coarseness as truth,) in passing judgment upon some modern English 
songs, " they're clear and cauld, like the drap at a man's nose on a 
frosty morning." 

Murray, the philologist, whose father taught him to read by drawing 
the letters with a burned stick on the back of a wool-card, and who, even 
while tending his sheep in the wilds of Galloway, made himself master 
of seven languages, was another of the youthful coterie at Dr. Ander- 
son's hospitable fireside ; and, without naming more, may also be men- 
tioned the author of the Pleasures of Hope. 

John Leyden was a man of warm heart, deep susceptibility, and 
daring courage, and of extensive rather than accurate or practically 
useful acquirements. His writings are full of curious knowledge and 
irregular bursts of genius. His uniform struggle to be and appear a 
greater man than nature designed him, was so marked, as, in the eyes 
of those who knew him not intimately, to savour somewhat of preten- 
sion. His affectation, too, of preserving the rustic language and man- 
ners of the class from which he sprung, despite the refined and classical 
nature of his studies, and the polished circles in which he was an early 
and welcome guest, sat any thing but gracefully on him. To those 
who had opportunities of studying his character more narrowly, how- 
ever, these venial defects were more, much more than compensated by 
his devoted affection for those he loved; the unwearied enthusiasm with 
which he followed out any favourite pursuit, or struggled to serve a 
friend. A congenial taste for ballads, romance, and border antiquities, 
immediately attached him to Scott, to whom he was introduced by 
Heber, and the progress of mutual acquaintance only riveted more 
strongly the ties of friendship. A characteristic anecdote of Leyden 
was afi;erwards told by Scott, which, although more apropos to a subse- 
quent part of our narrative, may here be given as the finishing stroke to 
our necessarily brief and imperfect portraiture of this amiable and excel- 
lent man: — " In this labour (procuring materials for the 'Ministrelsy of 
the Scotish Border,' which we will forthwith have occasion to notice,) 
Leyden was equally interested by friendship for the editor, and by his 
own patriotic zeal for the honour of the Scotish borders ; and both may 
be judged of from the following circumstance. An interesting fragment 
of an ancient historical ballad had been obtained, but the remainder, to 
the great disturbance of the editor and his coadjutor, (Leyden,) was not 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 157 

to be recovered. Two days afterwards, while the editor was sitting 
with some company after dinner, a sound was heard at a distance hke 
that of the whistling of a tempest through the torn rigging of the vessel 
which scuds before it. The sounds increased as they approached more 
near, and Leyden (to the great astonishment of such of the guests as 
did not know him,) burst into the room, chanting the desiderated ballad 
with the most enthusiastic gesture, and all the energy of the saw-tones 
of his voice. It turned out that he had walked between forty and fifty 
miles and back again for the sole purpose of visiting an old person who 
possessed this precious remnant of antiquity." 

We are now approaching that period at which Scott may be said to 
have laid the foundation of his tiiture fame, and that too, strangely 
enough, by the publication of a work scarcely entitled to the claim of 
originality. We allude to his " Minstrelsy of the Scotish Border." Before 
entering into the detail, however, of a career so brilliant as his was 
destined to be, the plan of our work compels us to advert to one or two 
minor circumstances. 

Although Scott, at this period, (1800,) was gradually, and perhaps 
to himself, as to others, imperceptibly, gliding into that current of intel- 
lectual occupation for which Providence seems so palpably to have 
destined him, he had by no means relinquished the duties, immediate or 
prospective, of his profession. It is, perhaps, proper to state, tor the 
information of those unacquainted with our Scotish institutions, that the 
commission of sheriff", or steward of a county, does not, as the law now 
stands, (though it is believed it will not do so long,) render the local 
residence of that functionary at all necessary ; his duties being discharged 
either by a substitute, or, when requisite, by personal correspondence 
with himself. These gentlemen, therefore, being invariably selected 
from the ranks of the legal profession, are generally to be found pursu- 
ing their original practice as pleaders before the court of session, during 
its sittings, as assiduously as if no such office had been entrusted to their 
charge. Accordingly, we find the subject of our memoir, the year after 
his appointment as sheriff" of Selkirkshire, engaged as counsel for a man 
of the name of Elliot, a horse-dealer in Hawick, who was tried before the 
high court of justiciary for the crime of forgery. We notice this trial 
not only as being in itself somewhat anomalous in our Scotish criminal 
annals, but as being apparently the last of the same description in which 
Scott was engaged, and in which, as the junior and working counsel, 
he acquitted not only his client, but himself, triumphantly. The trial 
lasted two days ; between twenty and thirty witnesses were examined, 
and the jury returned a verdict of guilty of knoioingly uttering base 
notes, — held equivalent, by the law, to the primary crime o^ forging, — 
and, therefore, subjecting the accused to the capital punishment (now 



158 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

happily abolished) of death. From certain circumstances, elicited by 
the counsel for the pannel during the procedure, the lords of justiciary 
reckoned themselves warranted in suspending consideration of the ver- 
dict, and ultimately ordered mutual informations to be lodged by the 
counsel for the crown and the criminal. The paper in behalf of the 
latter is in Scott's name, and is a very elaborate production. It shows 
an extensive knowledge both of the practice and spirit of our Scotish 
criminal jurisprudence, as well as great art in representing the pannel 
as beyond the pale of its application. The concluding paragraph of the 
pleading is more characteristic of the author of Waverley than the young 
Scotish advocate : — " He (the pannel) has indeed much to answer for, 
and has, perhaps, too well merited the punishment which he deprecates. 
But a dead fly will corrupt a box of precious ointment, and the irregular 
punishment of the most obscure and guilty individual, may pervert the 
noblest system of jurisprudence." 

The result to the pannel was an unconditional dismissal from the bar. 
It may perhaps not be uninteresting to state, that the senior counsel for 
the accused was John Clerk, afterwards Lord Eldon. 

Although, as we have already said, his duties as sheriff of Selkirk- 
shire did not render his permanent residence in the country imperative, 
it was nevertheless necessary for him to reside in the district a certain 
portion of the year. He therefore forthwith removed from his cottage 
at Lasswade, and took the house of Ashiesteel, on the banks of the 
Tweed, which we have before described, and which continued to be his 
country residence till he took up his abode at Abbotsford. The ap- 
pointment was to him, in every respect, an agreeable and beneficial 
one. Besides adding £300 a-year to his income, (his means being lit- 
tle augmented by his professional practice,) and conferring an enviable 
general and local respectability to his character, he was thus trans- 
planted to a district abounding with valued relatives and friends, and 
with scenery, which, dear as it was to him while a boy, was now incal- 
culably more precious to him as a poet. It would appear to be on his 
removal to the banks of his favourite stream, that Scott abandoned 
equally all prospect and desire of obtaining distinction at the bar, and 
gave the laissez aller to the natural impulses of his heart, and the soar- 
ing pinions of his imagination. His office as sheriff-depute was (exclu- 
sive, of course, of the salary) little more than a nominal one, and he 
was by no means inclined to augment its duties. Indeed, it is averred 
by Hogg, that if he ever displayed any thing like partiality in the exer- 
cise of his functions, it was towards the poachers by land and water, 
who were occasionally brought before him — a species of legal game 
which his brethren of the bench seem, from time immemorial, to have 
reckoned it one of the prime purposes of their oflice to nose out and 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 159 

hunt down. Scott entertained, however, a high notion of the impor- 
tance and dignity of his office, and resolutely vindicated it when occa- 
sion required. It is said that, on one occasion, when the Archduke 
Nicholas, now Emperor of Russia, was passing through Selkirk, the 
populace, in their natural anxiety to behold such a curiosity as a live 
prince, pressed round him so closely, that Scott found it impossible to 
get near him. The magistrate's patience at length failed, and shouting 
out, in an authoritative tone, — " Room for your sheriff! Room for your 
sheriff!" he pushed and elbowed the gazers impatiently aside, until he 
reached the prince, to whom he apologised for his countrymen's rude- 
ness. 

Ere we proceed to the retrospect of Scott's career as a poet, we will 
follow out our original plan of introducing brief sketches of his early 
friends and acquaintances, with as much chronological consecutiveness 
as possible. Amongst these, one of the first entitled to notice, in pri- 
ority of time as well as genius, is Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. 

James Hogg was Scott's junior only by a few months, having been 
born in March, 1772. His progenitors, as he tells us himself, were all 
shepherds in the border districts, — a class of men to whom, for natural 
intelligence, moral integrity, fervent piety, and stern independence of 
mind, we can find no parallel in the annals of mankind. The charac- 
ter of this primitive, and, generally speaking, still unsophisticated class 
of men, is little known or appreciated, even by their own countrymen. 
Mingling little with their fellow-rnen beyond the bounds of their own 
secluded vales, and then only at distant intervals, their knowledge of 
mankind is astonishing, and would be reckoned intuitive, did we not 
know how powerfully the " silence of the mountain solitudes," by en- 
gendering habits of self-reflection, and throwing the heart back upon 
itself, leads to an intimacy with the secret springs which regulate and 
influence human conduct. The nature of their occupation, too, tends to 
inspire them with a feeling of trust and reliance on Providence ; imbues 
them with an habitual devoutness of thought, while it elevates their de- 
portment with a natural dignity, almost patriarchal. 

This is anything but an exaggerated picture of the border shepherds, 
as all who have had the opportunity, and the courage, to penetrate into 
their native fastnesses, and have contented themselves with frugal and 
healthful fare for the sake of studying original individuality of charac- 
ter, can attest. They are in fact, in the widest meaning of the expres- 
sion, truly what Allan Cunningham has so emphatically denominated 
them, " Nature's gentlemen." But it must not be imagined, from what 
we have here said, that these men are ignorant of the events and trans- 
actions of the busy world around them. The veiy reverse is the fact; 
and this more especially since the commencement of that system of 



160 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

cheap publishing wliich forms one of the most distinctive features of the 
present age. And we here call to recollection an incident illustrative 
of our present observations which it may not be uninteresting in this 
place to record. The writer of these pages happened, a few years ago, 
to be on a pilgrimage to the classic banks of the Yarrow, with two 
friends. The Shepherd's house was, as usual, crowded to the door 
with a miscellaneous assemblage from all points of the compass, resem- 
bling strongly, indeed, what he himself jocularly termed it, "a bees' 
skaep in the process of casting.^'' With a view, therefoi-e, to relieve 
him somewhat from the oppressive duties of hospitality, we walked up 
the glen to St. Mary's Loch, in order to wile away the forenoon. 
Here we foregathered with a shepherd, to whom one of my friends, a 
native of the district, was known ; and who, after exchanging civilities, 
instead of commencing a running commentary on the state of the wea- 
ther and markets, as we expected, proceeded, to our great astonishment, 
to criticise Scott's Napoleon, then newly published, and which none of 
us, to our inexpressible confusion, had yet seen. Our pastoral friend, 
however, seemed to have analysed it completely, and stated several ob- 
jections, as respected historical accuracy, most of which we afterwards 
found gravely put forth in the critical press of the day. 

Making every allowance, however, for the benefit of intelligent pa- 
rentage, it must be owned that Hogg's career is one of the most extra- 
ordinary examples on record of natural genius, forcing its way upwards 
through all obstacles into a lofty and enviable fame. Like the children 
of almost every Scotish peasant, since the establishment of our invalua- 
ble parochial system of education, Hogg was early instructed in writing 
and reading; but at seven years of age, in consequence of domestic 
misfortunes, was taken from school and sent to service in the dignified 
capacity of a cow-herd. "In all," he says, "I had spent about half a 
year at school ; and was never another day at any school whatever." 
He was soon transferred from the charge of cows to that of sheep, in 
which employment he continued unremittingly till his eighteenth year, 
without attempting to lift a pen, and scarcely seeing a book, — the Bible 
excepted. It was not until he was twenty-one, that he attempted to 
write verses, and his fii-st rude efforts were, as he, as candidly as justly, 
says, " sad trash ;" but this seems to have arisen chiefly from his at- 
tempting flights far beyond the still narrow range of his powers. 
Scarcely had he begun to scribble, when the casual perusal of Ram- 
say's unrivaled pastoral fired him with a dramatic frenzy, and he began 
to sacrifice alternately to Thalia and Melpomene, with an ardour of de- 
votion, by which, if he attained some notoriety, it was of a kind which 
his future fame may, without much loss, dispense with. Under the 
discriminating eye and fostering encouragement of his master, Mr. Wil- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 161 

liam Laidlaw, at Elibank, the shepherd continued to write, and to im- 
prove as he wrote ; and his effusions began gradually to creep into pub- 
lic notice. Perhaps the startling and reproachful precedent of Burns, 
then recently laid in his grave, rendered his countrymen the more ready 
to open their convictions to the claims of his still more rustic and unpo- 
lished successor. In 1802, the first two volumes of the "Minstrelsy of 
the Scotish Border" were published, and it must have been in the au- 
tumn of that year, that the first interview between Scott and Hogg, as 
detailed in the Shepherd's own graphic words, took place, although the 
latter himself, it will be seen, dates it in 1801. The mistake is, how- 
ever, palpable, even by his own narrative. " One fine day in the sum- 
mer of 1801, as 1 was busily engaged working in the field of Ettrick 
House, (a farm lately given up in lease to him by his brother William,) 
Wat Shiel came over to me and said, that ' I boud gang down to the 
Ramsay-cleuch as fast as my feet could carry me, for there war some 
gentlemen there wha wantit to speak to me.' — 'Wha can it be at the 
Ramsay-cleuch that wants me, Wat?' — 'I couldna say, for it was na 
me they spak to in the byganging, but I'm thinking its the Shirra* 
and some of his gang.' — I was rejoiced to hear this, for I had seen the 
first volumes of the Minstrelsy of the Border, and had copied a number 
of old things from my mother's recital, and sent them to the editor pre- 
paratory for a third volume. [Our readers will here observe, in refer- 
ence to the date of this interview, that the third volume was published 
in 1803.] I accordingly went towards home to put on my Sunday 
clothes, but before reaching it, I met with the Shirra and Mr. William 
Laidlaw, [Hogg's late master] coming to visit me. They alighted and 
remained in our cottage for a space better than an hour, and my mother 
chanted the ballad of Old Maitland to them, with which Mr. Scott was 
highly delighted. I had sent him a copy, but I thought Mr. Scott had 
some dread of a part being forged, which had been the cause of his 
journey into Ettrick. When he heard my mother sing it he was quite 
satisfied, and I remember he asked her if she thought it had ever been 
printed, and her answer was, — ' Oo, na, na, sir, it was never prented i' 
the world, for my bi'others an' me learned it frae auld Andrew Moor, 
an' he learned it, an' mony mae, frae ane auld Baby Maitlan', that was 
housekeeper to the first laird o' Tushilaw.' — ' Then that must be a very 
auld story, indeed, Margaret,' said he. — ' Aye, it is that ! But mair nor 
that, except George Watson and James Stewart, there was never ane o' 
my sangs prentit, till ye prentit them yersell, an' ye hae spoilt them 
a' thegither ! They war made for singing, an'' no for reading; an' 
they're neither right spelled nor right setten down!' 'Heh — heh — heh! 

* SherifT— Mr. Scott being then Sheriff of Selkirkshire. 
X 



162 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Take ye that, Mr. Scott,' said Laidlaw. Mr. Scott answered by a 
hearty lavigh, and the recital of a verse, but I have forgot what it was, 
and my mother gave him a rap on the knee with her open hand, and 
said, — 'it was true enough for a' that.' " Such is a part of Hogg's ac- 
count of this interesting introduction to his illustrious friend and brother 
poet. The intercourse, however, lasted two days, and laid the founda- 
tion of a friendship which only terminated with the death of one of 
them. They visited together several places in the district renowned in 
the ballad and legendary lore in which they were both such enthusiasts ; 
and it may be worth while noting a few of the Shepherd's reminiscences 
of his friend's appearance and bearing at that period. " I remember," 
says he, " his riding upon a terribly high-spirited horse, which had the 
perilous fancy of leaping every drain, rivulet, and ditch, that came in 
cur way. The consequence was, that he was everlastingly bogging 
himself, while sometimes his rider kept his seat in despite of his plung- 
ing, and at other times he was obliged to extricate himself the best way 
he could. We visited the old castles of Thirlestane and Tushilaw, and 
dined and spent the afternoon and the night with Mr. Brydon of Cross- 
lie. Sir Walter was, all the while, in the highest good humour, and 
seemed to enjoy the range of mountain solitude which we traversed, 
exceedingly. Indeed, I never saw him otherwise. In the fields, on the 
rugged mountains, or even toiling in Tweed to the waist, I have seen 
his glee not only surpass himself, but that of a;Il other men. I remem- 
ber of leaving Altrive with him once, accompanied by Mr. Laidlaw and 
Sir Adam Ferguson, to visit the tremendous solitudes of the Grey Mare's 
Tail and Loch Skene.* I conducted them through that wild region by 
a path which, if not rode by Clavers, was, I dare say, never before rode 
by any gentleman. Sir Adam rode inadvertently into a gulf, and got 
a sad fright ; but Sir Walter, in the very worst paths, never dismounted, 
save at Loch Skene to take some dinner. Our very perils were to him 
matter of infinite merit; and then there was a short-tempered boot-boy 
at the inn (at Moffat) who wanted to pick a quarrel with him, at which 
he laughed till the water ran over his cheeks." These reminiscences 
of the Shepherd are valuable and interesting, as displaying at once the 
animal temperament of his brother bard, and the habitual channel in 
which Scott's ideas ran, at that period of his life. And in the picture 
given, we think every one will perceive that the exuberant flow of both 
— his contempt of toil and danger, and the chivalric current of his feel- 
ings — are to be found bursting forth irrepressibly in every page of those 
immortal strains to which he soon afterwards gave birth. 



* A waterfall and lake amid the fearfully- wild mountain fastnesses that sepa- 
rate the vales of Yarrow and Moffat. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 163 

Hogg subsequently remarks, that the enthusiasm with which Scott 
recited and spoke of our ancient ballads during that interesting tour 
through the forest of Ettrick, first led him (Hogg) to attempt an imita- 
tion of them. Every one knows how successfully he did so, in his 
"Mountain Bard," published in 1807; which with equal propriety and 
gratitude he dedicated to the high priest of that altar whence he caught 
the fire of his inspiration. Scott, indeed, encouraged the publication of 
the work by word and deed, not only as an enthusiastic poet, but a warm 
— an actively warm — fi-iend. Of his kind offices in the former charac- 
ter, Hogg has beautifully said — 

" Blest be liis generous heart for aye, 
He told me where the relic lay, 
Pointed my way with ready will, 
Afar on Ettrick's wildest hill; 
Watched my first notes with curious eye, 
And wondered at my minstrelsy : 
He little weened a parent's tongue 
Such strains had o'er my cradle sung." 

When the work was finished, Scott took the bard with him to Edin- 
burgh, and introduced him to Mr. Constable, who became the publisher, 
although on terms not the most flattering to the author. The truth was, 
we believe, that the bibliopole was at first somewhat staggered at the 
loutish bearing, uncouth dialect, and grotesque caligraphy of the untu- 
tored borderer. 

It is at all times a delicate, and sometimes a dangerous matter to 
touch upon the private intercourse between friend and friend, when 
either or both are in the land of the living. But we have Hogg's own and 
oft repeated authority for stating, that, amid all his many vicissitudes of 
fortune, Scott ever continued to be his warm and consistent friend, in 
the fullest acceptation of the term. And this we are the more anxious 
to state, as the illustrious subject of our narrative has more than once 
been accused of a callousness and indifference in his friendships, even 
in those contracted during his earlier years, when the heart was young 
and the feelings ardent, amounting to apathetic insensibility. Never 
was charge more unjust, as we shall have little difficulty in showing. 
But we have not yet arrived at the proper place for making up an esti- 
mate either of his public or private character. One instance of his 
kindly and forgiving disposition, however, we cannot help here giving, 
in connection with the individual about whom we have just been speak- 
ing. Among other literary speculations which mingled with the teem- 
ing fancies of Hogg's brain during the heyday of his career at Edin- 
burgh, he conceived the idea of publishing a volume containing a poem 
by each of the great masters of the lyre then living in Britain. Pro- 



164 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

ceeding to act upon this notion, he forthwith applied personally or by 
letter to the parties concerned, little doubting of their cordial co-opera- 
tion and assistance in a scheme so novel and striking. His applications 
were for the most part favourably received, and either ready contribu- 
tions or promises of their speedy transmission were sent to him. Hogg 
became hourly more delighted with his scheme. He had already scaled 

" The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar," — 

and now, he conceived, he had found the " open sessame" to the tem- 
ple of fortune. To his utter discomfiture, however, his friend Scott, of 
whose support he reckoned himself most secure, at once unqualifiedly 
refused to lift his pen for such a purpose. Hogg remonstrated earnestly, 
but without effect ; and finally demanded an explanation of his refusal. 
But on this point Scott was equally obstinate; nor would he even con- 
descend to give any opinion respecting the propriety of Hogg's pro- 
jected publication. Stung with indignation at treatment which he con- 
ceived to be undeservedly injurious and contemptuous, the Shepherd 
flung from him ; sent him a most abusive letter, impugning equally his 
qualities as a man, and his capacity as a poet, and refused either to speak 
to or meet with him for more than a twelvemonth afterwards. Hogg, 
at the same time, threw aside his favourite project in angry vexation, 
conceiving, very justly, even amid his wrath, that the want of Scott's 
name would, in all likelihood, tend materially to frustrate its success. 
He soon afterwards revived it again, however, in a different fashion, 
and published his Poetic Mirror, giving imitations (many of them hap- 
pily executed) of the most celebrated of our country's living poets. 
During the interval of estrangement between Scott and Hogg, the latter 
(who afterwards confessed the quarrel to be all on his own side) fell ill, 
and was soon considered in great danger of his life. Such a casualty 
is the surest touch-stone of earthly affection. Not knowing how he 
would be received personally by his afflicted friend, Scott made daily 
and most anxious enquiries after his welfare at the shop of Hogg's bor- 
der countrymen and earliest benefactors, Messrs. Scott and Grieve, 
hatters, North Bridge ; he desired that no pecuniary consideration might 
prevent his having the best medical advice in Edinburgh, and every 
thing which could contribute to the restoration of his health ; and fre- 
quently observed, with much emotion — " I would not for all I am worth 
in the world that any thing serious should befall Hogg." As his friends 
had been enjoined to secrecy by Scott, it was long after his recovery ere 
the particulars of this affectionate solicitude for his welfare reached the 
ears of the Shepherd. When it did so, the consequence was, an imme- 
diate and cordial reconciliation. Scott's reasons for refusing to accede 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 165 

to his friend's urgent request, as well as declining all explanation on the 
subject, seem to us perfectly plain, and reflect, in our opinion, the high- 
est credit both on his head and heart. The project was, to say the least 
of it, a somewhat mercenary one ; at least, had it been carried into ef- 
fect, and redounded much to the editor's profit, there was a strong pro- 
bability of its being viewed in that light by the world. Scott, therefore, 
discountenanced a proposal by which the friend he esteemed might sully 
the bright fame he had then acquired in the world of letters, and ulti- 
mately forfeit his own self-respect — the direst of human misfortunes; 
while the subject was, at the same time, of a nature which, to a man of 
delicacy, forbade either argument or remonstrance. 

It would be out of our way, in these pages, to enter on a detailed re- 
view of Hogg's literary career; and the time is happily not yet arrived 
for making up the balance-sheet of his merits and defects, either as an 
intellectual or a social being. Thus much, however, we will venture to 
say, — that as a poet, he has given undoubted proofs that his genius is, 
or has been, of the highest order, however much he may have tampered 
with it in his " wayward moods." Few, we think, will venture to pre- 
dict the time when the name of the author of the " Queen's Wake" 
shall have passed into oblivion. As a man, few indeed are capable of 
appreciating him. But let those who may be inclined to speak lightly 
of him in either character, pause when they know that he is one whom 
Walter Scott esteemed in both. 

We turn now to our task of noticing the first publication upon which 
Scott, so to speak, adventured forth upon the perilous ocean of author- 
ship, little dreaming, doubtless, of the long and glorious voyage before 
him, or that he was to be lighted along in his triumphant career by " the 
sunshine of a world's smile," — his sails filled to cracking with the ap- 
plauding breath of nations. We have already seen in what manner he 
employed himself for some years previously, with the view of wresting 
the still surviving relics of our ancient minstrelsy from the ruthless grasp 
of oblivion, — traversing the barren heaths, and exploring the solitary 
dells, of the highlands of the south, with unwearying ardour and un- 
tiring foot. But we have learned, even since we commenced our task 
as biographers, that his mind had been directed to this object much ear- 
lier than any one, until very lately, was aware of. In the splendid edi- 
tion of his poetical works, now in the course of publication by Mr. Ca- 
dell, we find a note by the editor, Mr. Lockhart, stating that " there is, 
in the library at Abbotsford, a collection of ballads, partly printed broad- 
sides, partly in MS., in six small volumes, which, from the handwriting, 
must have been formed by Sir Walter Scott while attending the earlier 
classes of Edinburgh college." If the editor be correct in his conjec- 
ture, Scott must have begun and completed this voluminous collection of 



166 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

antiquarian lore previous to his fourteenth year ; as we have shown 
from unquestionable documents that his career at the earlier classes of 
the college was cut short at the commencement of the session of 1784, 
by indisposition, when he was barely past thirteen; nor did he again 
renew his studies there until the winter of 1790. Now, as we have 
been able to get no trace of Scott's having applied himself to any un- 
dertaking of the description adverted to by Mr. Lockhart, or even of his 
having shown a decided preference for such pursuits, beyond the peru- 
sal of stories of romance and diablerie, antecedent to his long and se- 
vere attack of illness, (from which period, indeed, the poet himself dates 
his irrevocable lapse into the region of fiction,) we must conclude, either 
that we have been deficient in our sources of information, or that the 
learned editor has overlooked the abrupt termination of Scott's classical 
studies. With every sentiment of deference to an authority so high, 
we are inclined to think, that without some further proof to the contrary, 
the public will be disposed to continue its belief in the correctness of our 
narrative. 

Besides his own indefatigable industry in collecting materials for his 
" Minstrelsy," Scott enjoyed many advantages in its compilation. Be- 
sides his intimate acquaintance with the many valuable collections of the 
same description already published — from the miscellany of Andro 
Myllar and Walter Chepman,* of Edinburgh, in 1508, to the enlarged 
edition of David Herd's ample work, in 1791 — he had the benefit of the 
best exertions of many friends well qualified to assist him. Access was, 
by their influence, obtained for him to private libraries, and carefully 
preserved MSS. hitherto unprofaned by strangers' touch, by which he 
was, in innumerable instances, enabled to supply deficiencies, elucidate 
dubious passages, and correct false or corrupted readings in the many 
ballads which he had previously noted down from recitation. He men- 
tions, in particular, a collection of border songs, under the title of Glen- 
riddeVs MS., compiled by the late Mr. ^^iddel of Glenriddel, of which 
he had the use while preparing his work, and which proved of incalcu- 
lable service to him. 

If any one should suppose that, in thus stating the numerous sources 
of information afforded to Scott in the prosecution of his work, we are 
detracting from the merit of his labours, we answer that such a con- 
struction is as foreign to our meaning as it is ex facie absurd. The 
work was not one of original composition, but merely of a collection ; 
and the co-operation of his friends only tended to facilitate and render 

* This book, which was printed in black letter, in 1508, contains a considera- 
ble store of Scotish popular poetry, and is supposed to be the earliest surviving 
specimen of the Scotish press. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 167 

more perfect the accomplishment of an object intrinsically national. The 
duties, however, of selecting, comparing, arranging — in short of editing, 
the collection, were nowise lightened by this ready zeal in furnishing 
materials; on the contrary, they were rendered the more burdensome 
and responsible, just in proportion to the number and value (to use a 
statutory expression) of the contributors. 

Respecting the manner in which Scott discharged his self-imposed 
task, it would be more than superfluous now to examine. It has been 
said, and truly, that the work contains materials for scores of metrical 
romances. And this arises, perhaps, not more from the innumerable, 
singular, romantic, and picturesque incidents, which form the ground- 
work and are interspersed through the superstructure of most of these 
ancient eifusions, than from the circumstance of these the earliest vo- 
taries of the muse having, as Scott himself remarks, the first choice out 
of the stock of materials which are proper to the art. " Thus it hap- 
pens," continues he, " that early poets almost uniformly display a bold, 
rude, original cast of genius and expression. They have walked at 
free-will, and with unconstrained steps along the wilds of Parnassus, 
while their followers move with constrained gesture and forced attitudes, 
in order to avoid placing their feet where their predecessors have step- 
ped before them." It may be questioned, however, how far this gene- 
ral remark is just, as applying to the order of ballads contained in the 
Minstrelsy, consisting, as they almost exclusively do, of narratives of 
historical occurrences, or private adventure; and whether, moreover, it 
can be said to hold good in any case, so far as Scott himself is con- 
cerned. The ver)'^ nature of the subjects recorded in these old relics 
almost necessarily precludes any approach to refinement of sentiment ; 
while the rude habits and barbarous manners of the times were equally 
incompatible with elegance of expression. Many passages doubtless 
occur, especially in the ballads of romance, of the most touching pathos 
and exquisite expression of natural feeling; but, in the main, the prin- 
cipal value of these strains of the olden time consists in the curious pic- 
tures they display of the habits, sentiments, and condition of society in 
days gone by, and to a knowledge of which we have no other means 
of attaining. And in this view they are to be regarded rather as useful 
and instructive, than adding any thing to our stock of intellectual luxu- 
ries. Of this, Scott, zealous and enthusiastic as he was, both as ari an- 
tiquary and a poet, seems to have been perfectly aware at the time of 
their publication, and judged it prudent to throw in a short caveat to that 
effect, in his Introduction, with the view of deprecating the feeling of 
disappointment with which he expected his work to be received by the 
more refined and classical palates of modern times. 

The introduction to the " Minstrelsy" is one of the most extraordi- 



168 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

nary specimens of antiquarian research and abstruse learning, com- 
bined with extensive historical knowledge, ever submitted to the pub- 
lic. It gives a condensed but satisfactory history of the Border dis- 
tricts of Scotland, from the earliest known period down to the era of the 
Reformation, — the character and condition of the inhabitants through- 
out the different ages, — their habits, their religion, their superstitions 
and their occupations. It shows how deeply and attentively Scott had 
studied the history of his native land, ere he ventured to lift his pen as 
an author; how readily his mind laid hold of and stored up every oc- 
currence of interest, and every remarkable trait of character. And 
now that the wand of the magician is broken — though his enchantments 
remain — a re-perusal of this his earliest acknowledged essay, affords an 
explanation of much that was inexplicable during the peiiod of this 
mysterious power, and especially that exuberant profusion of historical 
incident with which he enriched his fictitious narratives, and gave to 
his plots and characters all the semblance and the interest of reality. 

The " Minstrelsy of the Scotish Border" is divided into three dis- 
tinct classes of poems. I. Historical Ballads. II. Romantic. 
III. Imitations of these compositions by Modern Authors. The 
first class are defined to be those that relate to events which are either 
known actually to have taken place, or which, making due allowance 
for the exaggerations of poetical tradition, may readily be conceived to 
have had some foundation in history. The Romantic comprehends 
such legends as are current upon the border relating to fictitious and 
imaginative adventui'e. Of these two classes, there were no fewer than 
forty-three old ballads which appeared for the first time in the " Min- 
strelsy,"* if we may credit the testimony of Mr. Motherwell of Glas- 
gow — himself a poet of no mean rank, and a successful gleaner in the 
same oft-gathered field. f This is certainly, all things considered, a 
prodigious number ; and entitles Scott and his coadjutors to the ever- 
lasting gratitude of their country. For it must be held in mind, that the 
relics of antiquity thus happily preserved, were in a condition even more 
perishable than the plate-mail of the heroes whose deeds are recorded 
in them ; while they were, at the same time, every day undergoing a 
metamorphosis no less destructive of their original appearance and cha- 
racter than the other suffers from the corroding rust that at once de- 
stroys its strength and its identity. But it is Scott himself whom we 
have mainly to thank for the perfect state in which we find them, — for 
freeing them from those mutations, corruptions, and spurious interpola- 

* We here include the additional volumes published with the reprint of the 
two first, in 1803. 

t Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern; with an Historical Introduction and Notes. 
By William Motherwell. 4to. Glasgow, 1827. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 169 

tions, the natural consequences of oral transmission, which weakened 
or destroyed their native vigour and beauty ; searching out, with a pa- 
tience of investigation almost incredible, the true readings of original 
texts ; unriddling the real meaning of the antiquated terms in which 
they were originally dictated ; and thus presenting them to us in a form 
at once intelligible to modern readers, and at the same time with all the 
genuine marks of authenticity about them. " Fortunate it was," ob- 
serves Mr. Motherwell, (and few, we think, will dissent from his opi- 
nion,) " for the heroic legendary song of Scotland that the work was 
undertaken, and still more fortunate that its execution devolved upon one 
so well qualified in every respect to do its subject the most ample jus- 
tice. Long will it live a noble and interesting monument of his unwea- 
ried research, curious and minute learning, genius, and taste. It is truly 
a patriot's legacy to posterity ; and as much as it may be now esteemed, 
it is only in times yet gathering in the bosom of futurity, when the in- 
teresting traditions, the chivalrous and romantic legends, the wild super- 
stitions, the tragic songs of Scotland, have wholly failed from living 
memory, that this gift can be duly appreciated. It is then that these 
volumes will be conned with feelings akin to religious enthusiasm, that 
their strange and mystic lore will be treasured up in the heart as the 
precious record of days forever passed away — that their grand stern le- 
gends will be listened to with reverential awe, as if the voice of a re- 
mote ancestor from the depths of the tombs had woke the thrilling 
strains of martial antiquity." 

The " Minstrelsy" was generally received, on its publication, with the 
applause it merited. It had been long and eagerly expected; for although 
Scott's name was at that time little known, and still less his capacity for 
the task, beyond the circle of his own Hterary acquaintances, these, 
together with the knowledge of the many individuals of authority in anti- 
quarian matters, who had taken an interest in, and lent their assistance to, 
the undertaking during its progress, was sufficiently numerous and influ- 
ential to excite anticipations in the public mind of no ordinary kind. The 
popularity of the work is, perhaps, best proven, by the fact that a second 
edition was called for in the course of the first year.* 

As already mentioned, the " Minstrelsy" made its first appearance in 
two volumes, and included only two classes of ballads, — the historical 

* South of the Tweed, it attracted comparatively little notice beyond the 
arena of criticism. " The curiosity of the English," observes Scott, in speaking 
of its cold reception amongst them, "was not much awakened by poems in the 
rude garb of antiquity, accompanied with notes, referring to the obscure feuds of 
barbarous clans, of whose very names civilized history was ignorant." The 
" Southron" and the " civilized world," came to take a deeper interest in these 
"barbarous clans" before the termination of Scott's career. 



170 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

and romantic — both of the olden time. At the reprint in the following 
year was added the volume of " Imitations" of the ancient ballads, by 
himself and various literary friends. But before speaking of these, we 
must advert to a circumstance attending the publication of the first two 
volumes, which attracted no little attention at the time. This was their 
issuing from the press of the small provincial town of Kelso, and in a 
style of typography which far surpassed any thing that had ever before 
been executed in Scotland. The printer was Mr. James Ballantyne, of 
whom, as also of his two brothers, David and John, mention was made 
in an early part of our memoir, as being a school-companion of Scott, 
at Kelso. These circumstances, together with his subsequent eminence 
in his trade, would sufficiently entitle him to some notice in these pages. 
But the close intimacy which afterwards subsisted betwixt Scott and the 
two brothers James and John, during the greater part of their mutual 
lives, and the peculiar circumstances which arose out of that connection, 
render our being somewhat particular in our account of both no less 
expedient than proper. 

Mr. Ballantyne's father was a respectable draper in Kelso, and was, 
or at least considered himself, an individual of no little importance in his 
native burgh. Of his family we know nothing, excepting those mem- 
bers of it who were thrown into companionship at school with the 
subject of our narrative. David, the eldest, as already mentioned, went 
to sea, but returned in bad health, and died at an early age. No great 
cordiality, we are told, subsisted betwixt Scott and the three Ballan- 
tynes while at Kelso, chiefly on account of certain consequential airs 
which, as the sons of one of the princij)al merchants in the place, the 
brothers thought themselves entitled to assume towards their compeers. 
This is a well known characteristic of the mercantile families in all our 
little provincial Scotish burghs, more especially if the head of the house 
happen to exercise some civic function, and have a seat in the " Cooncil." 
The paltrier the place, the more powerful this propensity to pretension. 
This moral weakness arises from two causes, — first, a want of know- 
ledge of the world; and, secondly, a lively sense of that obsequious 
deference to wealth and office which has generally been held a promi- 
nent feature in the national character, and which the poor being ever 
ready to pay, the rich arc, of course, ever ready to exact. Scott, as 
we have seen, remained only about a twelvemonth at Kelso, but the 
acquaintance so coldly begun, was renewed upon his occasional visits to 
that place afterwards, and ultimately ripened into a warm and steady 
friendship. James was at first designed for the law, and served his 
apprenticeship with a Mr. James Potts, writer in Kelso. He afterwards 
came to Edinburgh, and, as we are informed, entered as a solicitor, but 
having only got one job in the course of two years, and no payment for 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 171 

that, he returned to his native town quite undetermined as to his future 
line of life. About that time the tory gentlemen of the county were on 
the eve of starting a newspaper in accordance with their own political 
notions, and Mr. Ballantyne's principles having a similar bias, he was 
offered the editorship. This was the first acquaintance he formed with 
the art of printing. After he had been some time established in his 
situation, his old school-friend, Scott, one day called upon him, and said, 
— " Man," (this seems to have been a habitual term of address with 
Scott, in familiar dialogue.) " Man, James, I've got a parcel of old 
border ballads that I wish you would print for me." " Me print !" said 
Mr. Ballantyne, " how could I print, who never learned the art ; and, 
besides, have no types but what are necessary for the newspaper!" 
This last difficulty was, however, obviated by Sir Walter's urgency. It 
happened at that time, that an English type-founding house was pushing 
its wares through Scotland, and that these wares were of a kind much 
superior to what had ever before been seen north of the Tweed. Of 
these Mr. Ballantyne was induced to order a quantity, almost solely for 
the purpose of printing his friend's ballads. It happened also very for- 
tunately, that Mr. Ballantyne's principal workman had been a long 
time in the establishment of the celebrated Bensley, and was therefore 
capable of using his materials to the best purpose. With these advan- 
tages, and the excellent natural taste of Mr. Ballantyne, which was one 
of his most prominent qualities, together with a remarkably fine thick 
wove paper, the " Minstrelsy of the Scotish Border" burst upon the as- 
tonished eyes of the Scotish public, — a paragon of typographical perfec- 
tion. Indeed, it almost as far surpassed, in appearance, the publications 
then issuing from the Scotish press, as it might now be reckoned supe- 
rior to those of New South Wales at the present day. As a natural 
consequence, the Kelso printer was soon in general request in the pub- 
lishing world, and in the course of a year or two afterwards, chiefly, 
we believe through the instigation and assistance of Scott, he was 
induced to remove to Edinburgh, where he commenced his long and 
distinguished career as a genei'al printer. Of this, however, more here- 
after. Suffice it here to say, that Mr. Ballantyne contributed powerfully, 
by his example, to diffuse throughout the printing trade of Scotland a 
taste for correct and elegant workmanship, previously unknown; but 
which has since been carried to a pitch of excellence rivaling the typo- 
graphy of any other part of the globe. Mr. Ballantyne's brother, John, 
had, in the mean while, been brought up to his father's trade, but when 
his brother's reputation and business, as printer in Kelso, increased, he 
was taken into the printing-office as his clerk, or book-keeper, and sub- 
sequently accompanied him to Edinburgh, where he soon after opened 
shop as a bookseller. 



172 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

In 1803^, the Minstrelsy was republished with considerable emenda- 
tions and additions, both in prose and verse ; for the interest excited by 
its first appearance had drawn forth both comments and contributions 
from many quarters hitherto overlooked. An additional volume was 
also added, which to some, perhaps, may appear not the least valuable 
of the three, in as far as genuine poetry is to be considered. This volume 
consisted of "Imitations of the Ancient Ballad," by modern writers, the 
pieces being founded upon such traditions as may be supposed to have 
employed the harps of the minstrels in the olden times. 

Among these were several pieces by Scott himself, including his 
"Glenfinlas," and the "Eve of St. John," which we have formerly 
noticed, and which were written for, and first appeared in Lewis's 
" Tales of Wonder." There is also a long ballad by Lewis himself, 
entituled " Sir Agilthorn," which seems to have been regarded by the 
critics of the period as an effusion of transcendent merit, but which, we 
suspect, will be looked upon at the present day as little else than a bom- 
bastic rhapsody of extravagant sentiment. But such was the rage of 
the day ; and Lewis has but too much excuse, as far as the universal 
prevalence of the same species of moral delinquency in all ages and 
countries can prove so, for yoking his genius to the chariot-wheels of 
fashion. As imitations, strictly so speaking, of our ancient border min- 
strelsy, there is little room for disputing that Scott's own compositions 
in this supplementary volume are by far the best; but as a modern 
specimen of pure and simple ballad poetry, we would perhaps incline to 
give the palm to Loyden's " Mermaid." The plot or tradition on which 
that ballad is buiU, is literally worse than nothing, because hackneyed 
and threadbare long before Leyden's day ; nor has he handled it to the 
best advantage ; but the strain flows on in such a rich continuous stream 
of verbal melody, that the meagreness of the sense is completely ab- 
sorbed in the harmony of the sound, and we cease from the perusal with 
a lon.o- respiration of intense delight, conjoined with an elevation of feeling 
such as is experienced in listening to the swelling tones of the organ, when 
pouring forth the strains of impassioned and unpremeditated devotion. 

We can scarcely conceive any thing more finely apostrophic than the 
opening stanzas of this beautiful ballad. 

" On Jura's heath how sweetly swell 

The murmurs of the mountain bee ! 
How softly mourns the writhed shell 

Of Jura's shore, its parent sea! 
But softer, floating o'er the deep, 

The mermaid's sweet sea-soothing lay, 
That charm'd the dancing waves to sleep 

Before the bark of Colonsay." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 173 

And how full of feverish and uncontrollable passion is the mermaiden's 
response to the captive chieftain's allegations of her incapability of par- 
ticipating in the sympathies of human atfection, — 

" As cygnet down, proud swell'd her breast; 

Her eye confess'd the pearly tear; 
His hand she to her bosom press'd — 

Is there no heart for rapture here ? 
These limbs, sprung from the lucid sea. 

Does no warm blood their currents fill, 
No heart-pulse riot, wild and free. 

To joy, to love's delirious thrill?" 

But we would wander much beyond the limits we have assigned our- 
selves in this memoir, did we proceed to quote from, or comment upon, 
this fascinating publication, as our inclination would entice us to do. 

The second edition of the Minstrelsy experienced rather a dull recep- 
tion, probably from its following the first too soon, and the eagerness 
with which the latter was bought up. It has, however, gone through 
six or seven editions, and must unquestionably be regarded as one of 
the most valuable accessions to our national literature. The amending, 
illustrating, and adding to it, continued to be a favourite employment 
with Scott through life. Mr. Lockhart tells us that he " kept by him, 
as long as health permitted him to continue his literary pursuits, an in- 
terleaved copy of the collection by which his name was first established, 
inserting such various readings as chance threw in his way, and en- 
riching his annotations with whatever new lights conversation or books 
supplied." The edition now publishing under Mr. Lockhart's superin- 
tendence, has, therefore, the recommendation of possessing all these 
emendations, together with much additional information as to incidents, 
localities, &c. supplied by that gentleman himself Another valuable 
improvement is likewise made in the present edition ; — the appending of 
the music of many of the old airs to which the poetry was originally wed. 

Although we have said that, on removing to Ashiesteel, in the year 
1800, Scott virtually surrendered himself to the bent of his genius, and 
abandoned whatever longings he might previously have cherished for 
professional fame and emolument, yet he had by no means come to any 
deliberate determination within himself on the subject, nor was it until 
the year 1803, after the publication of the second edition of his " Min- 
strelsy," that the prudence, if not necessity, of finally making his election 
between law and literature, was forced on him by a sense of his ripen- 
ing years, (he was then thirty -two,) and the pi-ospect of an increasing 
family. This may be regarded as at once the most critical and inte- 
resting period of Scott's life, and for the reasons which determined his 
choice, we believe our readers will desiderate no better explanation than 



174 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

what he gives us himself in his Introduction to the Lay of the Last 
Minstrel, written in 1830. 

"At this time," (1803,) says he, "I stood personally in a different 
position from that which I occupied when I first dipt my desperate pen 
in ink for other purposes than those of my profession. In 1796, when 
I first published the translation from Burger, I was an insulated indi- 
vidual, with only my own wants to provide for, and having, in a great 
measure, my own inclination alone to consult. In 1803, when the 
second edition of the Minstrelsy appeared, I had arrived at a period of 
life when men, however thoughtless, encounter duties and circumstances, 
which press considerations and plans of life upon the most careless 
minds. I had been for some time married — was the father of a rising 
family, and, though fully enabled to meet the consequent demands upon 
me, it was my duty and desire to place myself in a situation which 
would enable me to make honourable provision against the various con- 
tingencies of life. 

" It may be readily supposed, that the attempts which I had made in 
literature had been unfavourable to my success at the bar. The god- 
dess Themis is, at Edinburgh, and I suppose every where else, of a 
peculiarly jealous disposition. She will not readily consent to share 
her authority, and sternly demands from her votaries, not only that 
real duty be carefully attended to and discharged, but that a certain air 
of business shall be observed even in the midst of total idleness. It is 
prudent, if not absolutely necessary, in a young barrister, to appear 
completely engrossed by his profession ; however destitute of employ- 
ment he may be, he ought to preserve, if possible, the appearance of 
full occupation. He should at least seem perpetually engaged among 
his law papers, dusting them, as it were; and, as Ovid advises of the 

fair, 

' Si nuUus erit pulvis, tamen excute nullum.' 

" Perhaps such extremity of attention is more especially i-equired, 
considering the great number of counsellors who are called to the bar, 
and how very small a proportion of them are finally disposed, or find 
encouragement, to follow the law as a profession. Hence the number of 
deserters is so great, that the least lingering look behind occasions a 
younw novice to be set down as one of the intending fugitives. Certain 
it is, that the Scotish Themis Avas at this time peculiarly jealous of any 
flirtation with the muses, on the part of those who had ranged them- 
selves under her banners. ***** 

<' The reader will not wonder that my open interference with matters 
of light literature diminished my employment in the weightier matters 
of the law. Nor did the solicitors, upon whose choice the counsel takes 
rank ia his profession, do me less than justice by regarding others 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 175 

among my cotemporaries aa fitter to discharge the duty due to their 
clients than a young man who was taken up with running after ballads, 
whether Teutonic or national. My profession and I, therefore, came to 
stand nearly upon the footing on which honest Slender consoled himself 
with having established with Mrs. Anne Page. 'There was no great 
love between us at the beginning, and it pleased Heaven to decrease it 
on farther acquaintance !' I became sensible that the time was come 
when I must either buckle myself resolutely to ' the toil by day, the 
lamp by night,' renouncing all the Delilahs of my imagination, or bid 
adieu to the profession of the law, and hold another course. 

" I confess my own inclination revolted from the more severe choice, 
which might have been deemed by many the wiser alternative. As my 
ti'ansgressions had been numerous, my repentance must have been sig- 
nalized by unusual sacrifices. My father, whose feelings might have 
been hurt by my quitting the bar, had been for two or three years dead, 
so that I had no control to thwart my own inclination ; and my income 
being equal to all the comforts, and some of the elegances of life, I was 
not pressed to an irksome employment by necessity, that most powerful 
of motives ; consequently, I was the more easily seduced to choose the 
employment which was most agreeable. This was yet the easier, that 
in 1800 I had obtained the preferment of Sheriff of Selkirkshire, about 
£300 a-year in value, and which was the more agreeable to me, as in 
that county I had several friends and relations. But I did not abandon 
the profession to which I had been educated without certain prudential 
resolutions, which, at the risk of egotism, l will here mention, — not 
without the hope that they may be useful to young persons who may 
stand in circumstances similar to those in which I then stood. 

"In the first place, upon considering the lives and fortunes of persons 
who had given themselves up to literature, or to the task of pleasing the 
public, it seemed to me that the circumstances which chiefly affected 
their happiness and character, were those from which Horace has be- 
stowed upon authors the epithet of the irritable race. It requires no 
depth of philosophic reflection to perceive, that the petty warfare of 
Pope with the dunces of his period could not have been carried on with- 
out his suffering the most acute torture, such as a man must endure 
from musquitoes, by whose stings he suffers agony, although he can 
crush them in his grasp by myriads. Nor is it necessary to call to 
memory the many humiliating instances, in which men of the greatest 
genius have, to avenge some pitiful quarrel, made themselves ridiculous 
during their lives, to become the still more degraded objects of pity to 
future times. 

"Upon the whole, as I had no pretension to the genius of the distin- 
guished persons who had fallen into such errors, I concluded there could 



176 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

be no occasion for imitating them in these mistakes, or what I consi- 
dered as svich: and, in adopting literary pursuits as the principal occu- 
pation of my future life, I resolved, if possible, to avoid those weak- 
nesses of temper which seemed to have most easily beset my more cele- 
brated predecessors. 

" With this view, it was my first resolution to keep as far as was in 
my power abreast of society, continuing to maintain my place in gene- 
ral company without yielding to the very natural temptation of narrow- 
ing myself to what is called literary society. By doing so, I imagined 
I should escape the besetting sin of listening to language which, from 
one motive or other, ascribes a very vmdue degree of consequence to 
literary pursuits, as if they were indeed the business rather than the 
amusement of life. The opposite course can only be compared to the 
injudicious conduct of one who pampers himself with cordial and lus- 
cious draughts until he is unable to endure wholesome bitters. Like 
Gil Bias, therefore, I resolved to stick by the society of my commis, in- 
stead of seeking that of a more literary cast, and to maintain my gene- 
ral interest in what was going on around me, reserving the man of let- 
ters for the desk and the library." 

It has seldom, if ever, happened, we believe, in the annals of litera- 
ture, that a determination of such a nature has been come to under such 
circumstances. The labourers in the field of letters consisted, until 
considerably later than the period we speak of, almost solely of two 
classes of individuals, — those who took to the occupation simply for 
amusement, self-improvement, or fame ; and those who adopted it as a 
profession, or means of subsistence. Since then, an entirely new sect 
of literati have sprung up, or rather manifested themselves, in Great 
Britain, whose views may be described as an amalgamation of those of 
their predecessors, uniting at once the objects of pleasure and profit in 
the pursuit. Nor is it difficult to discern the causes in which their ex- 
istence has originated. Much, no doubt, is owing to the natural growth 
of a relish for polite literature in a wealthy, intelligent, and cultivated 
community ; but it must be apparent to every one who has had his eye 
upon public events, and their results, for the last quarter of a century, 
that it has mainly ensued from the material alterations in the political 
condition of society. The change from a state of protracted and con- 
suming warfare, to that of profound peace, affected not moi'e the trading 
and agricultural interests, than the moral and intellectual faculties of 
the nation, — but in a converse ratio. The two former experienced a 
reaction which may not inaptly be compared to that state of prostration 
which the human frame experiences after the unnatural excitation of a 
long debauch ; and from which it is only now, after eighteen years' 
tranquillity, if we may venture to hazard the assertion, beginning to 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 177 

recover. On the other hand, the sudden closure of those sources of 
employment and subsistence consequent on a state of external warfare, 
conjoined with the natural increase of population (unrelieved by out- 
ward drainage) attendant on a state of peace, compulsorily directed 
men's minds into new channels of occupation. In other words, the 
demand for physical exertion and active public talents being stopped, 
intellectual amusement or effort was necessarily substituted. Indepen- 
dently of this, the public mind had received too great a moral impetus 
to stop with the termination of the causes in which it originated. The 
very social misery which ensued contributed to sharpen men's wits, — 
driving the educated to mental occupation, as a means of earning, or 
ekeing out, a livelihood ; and the uneducated into habits of observation, 
enquiry and reflection, previously dormant. Need we, in corroboration 
of our remarks, enumerate individually the host of distinguished recruits 
from the ranks of Bellona, which have of late years enlisted in, and 
done honour to, those of literature, including, as the list does, the names 
of a Hamilton, a Hall, a Napier, Marryat, and aCnAMiER? Or 
need we point to the recent great political movements throughout the 
empire, as evidence of the spirit of investigation and public sentiment 
which now pervades even the humblest classes of society ? 

Literature is no longer looked upon, like the stage in former days, as 
merely the refuge of those unpossessed of steadiness in following out, or 
patronage or luck for succeeding in, some more definite profession or 
trade. It has come to be regarded as a field open to all who cannot 
find a better market for their talents and acquirements ; and the public 
judgment seems to approve of the honourable competition. The lawyer 
is no longer reckoned unfit for his brief, the soldier his sword, the sailor 
his quadrant, or the merchant his desk, that he can handle his pen for 
the instruction or amusement of his fellow-men.* 

As Scott himself says in the preceding quotation, public feeling was 
very different at that period when he decided upon his future occupation 
for life. Yet, notwithstanding the revolution which has taken place on 
the subject, his determination must still be considered as a solecism in 
the world of letters. He dared to brave the contumely which then at- 
tached to a professional apostate, without the palliation of private neces- 
sity for his choice ; while, at the same time, his pecuniary resources 
were by no means adequate for the expense of upholding that style in 
society, which, equally by birth, education, and natural ambition, he 

* It was recently stated in the house of conamons, that the majority of the re- 
porters for the London newspapers consist of half-pay or disbanded naval and 
military officers. The most influential of these journals are edited by accom- 
plished barristers; and even the most obscure of the provincial prints are, gene- 
rally speaking, under the superintendence of men of ability and education. 

z 



178 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

felt himself called upon to assume and maintain. He confesses, it is 
true, that he was in no small degree influenced by hopes of a more sub- 
stantial kind than the chance profits of his literary labours, for ekeing 
out his income, — determined, as he says, to make literature not his 
crutch, but his staff. These consisted in the chance of obtaining, by 
the interest of his friends, some one of those easy and profitable, almost 
sinecure offices of the law, in which many of those who, from want of 
talent or ambition, fail to distinguish themselves in their profession, ul- 
timately find refuge. 

Such expectations, however, were necessarily of a precarious nature, 
depending, as they did, for their fulfilment, upon the versatile movements 
of the political wheel of fortune, which were, at that period, both fre- 
quent in occurrence, and uncertain in their results. 

Scott's resolution, in short, exhibits a singular mixture of prudential 
caution and moral boldness.* There can be little doubt that he was 
internally stimulated to it by the consciousness of his own powers and 
resources ; for no man, however unassuming, arrived at Scott's age, 
and mixing, as he did, so generally in society, but must have the con- 
viction of his own comparative strength or weakness unavoidably forced 
on him. 

He adopted, at the same time, he says, another resolution. " I deter- 
mined that, without shutting my ears to the voice of true criticism, I 
would pay no regard to that which assumed the form of satire. I 
therefore resolved to arm myself with the triple brass of Horace, against 
all the roving warfare of satire, parody, and sarcasm ; to laugh, if the 
jest were a good one ; or, if otherwise, to let it hum and buzz itself to 
sleep. It is to the observance of these rules, (according to my best be- 
lief,) that, after a life of thirty years engaged in literary labours of va- 
rious kinds, I attribute my never having been entangled in any literary 
quarrel or controversy ; and, which is a more pleasing result, that I 
have been distinguished by the personal friendship of my most approved 
contemporaries of all parties." 

It is well, indeed, as it is rare, when authors can adopt and keep a 
resolution like the above ; and Scott's career certainly exhibits a most 
remarkable example of forbearance, moderation, and equanimity. It is 
true that the extensive popularity which he almost immediately enjoyed, 
was of itself a more than sufficing balm for whatever annoyance he 
might experience from the petulant parodists and waspish Tom Thumbs 

* Mr. Allan Cunningham, we observe, assigns as one of Scott's inducements 
for abandoning his profession, the increase of fortune which he received by the 
death of his father, who expired on 14th April, 1799. This, we believe, is a 
mistake. We have very recently been credibly informed, that he was scarcely 
one penny richer by that event. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 179 

of criticism, who assailed him ; but it may be questioned whether he did 
not, in some instances, carry his indifference, real or affected, to an un- 
justifiable extent. Silence is not always that of dignity, nor endurance 
of injuries that of manly toleration. The attack made upon him by 
Byron, in his " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," was so mani- 
festly wanton and unjust, that Scott was sufficiently warranted in 
leaving his justification in the hands of the public. Not so the stric- 
tures on his historical novels, by Dr. M'Crie, and other commentators 
of undoubted candour and ability, to whose criticisms he was either al- 
together silent, or deigned but a brief and passing reply. But we are 
anticipating subjects for examination at a more fitting period of our nar- 
rative. 

Here, then, we are arrived at the actual commencement of Scott's 
career as an author by profession. He was, at tliis time, thirty-two 
years of age; a married man, with two children, — a third, the eldest, 
named Walter, only lived six weeks. He had then lately removed 
from a house in South,* to a more commodious one in North Castle 
street, in which he continued to reside, while in town, up to the time of 
Mr. Constable's unfortunate failure in 1825. During the summer, he 
constantly removed to Ashicsteel, until he became possessed of Abbots- 
ford. His parents were both dead. The few members of his father's 
family who still survived, were far separated from him ; and he was, in 
short, arrived at that anxious period of life, when all the filial and fra- 
ternal ties of early home being extinct or dissevered, a man beholds 
himself becoming the centre of a new world of domestic care and affec- 
tion, and feels all the responsibility attached to that condition. 

" The first fruits of Scott's defection from the weightier matters of 
the law was," not as Mr. Cimningham says, the " Lay of the Last Min- 
strel," but his "Sir Tristrem," a metrical romance; which, although 
not an original composition, yet, from the light which, by the most in- 
defatigable research, combined with uncommon discernment and saga- 
city, he threw on its history, and on the obsolete language in which it 
was composed, together with an exquisite imitation in the shape of a 
conclusion to the ancient poem, is well entitled to be ranked amongst 
his poetical works, and to claim particular notice in this place. 

It would prove a task equally beyond our limits and the patience of 
our readers, were we to enter into the discussion respecting the origin 
of the tale of Sir Tristrem, which has employed the pens and addled the 
brains of antiquaries for many generations. Its national origin has 
been claimed by most continental countries, as well as England and 

* No. 19, the street flat of which is now a shop at present occupied by Mr. 
Douglas, bookseller. His house in North Castle street was No. 39, now occu- 
pied by Mr. Macvey Napier, editor of the Edinburgh Review, &c. 



180 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Scotland : and that legends of a similar character, and bearing on the 
same incidents, existed in the former, long previous to the time of the 
Scotish bard, is universally admitted. Scott himself shows that such a 
story was popular both in French and German, antecedent to that pe- 
riod, and it has since been proved, in an erudite work, published in 
1821, on the remains of the middle ages, by Von der Hagen, that a 
romance of Sir Tristrem even existed in the Greek language so early 
as the thirteenth century. 

But the principal cause of confusion respecting the authorship of the 
existing English version of Sir Tristrem, seems to have been a work 
entitled "a Chronicle of Cornwall," and said to be writtten by one 
" Thomas of Brittany," — some supposing this Thomas, and not Thomas 
of Ercildoune, to be the real author, — others identifying them as the 
same individual. 

That such a chronicle did exist, which detailed the legend of Sir 
Tristrem, is sufficiently proved by the references made to it by the 
early writers of other countries ; and Scott, in his introduction to the 
romance, states his firm belief that Thomas of Brittany and Thomas of 
Ercildoune are one and the same. This, however, seems to be doubted 
by the learned antiquary, Mr. Ellis, chiefly on account of a discrepancy 
of dates, which the supposition necessarily implies in the introductory 
essay of Scott himself; and Mr. Lockhart, in his prefatory remarks to 
the edition just published, (1833) unhesitatingly pronounces the identity 
impossible. — " That Thomas of Ercildoune," says he, " was well known 
in England as a romance writer, is established beyond all doubt, by 
the words of De Brunne — 

'I see in song of sedgeing tale 
Of Erceldoune.' 

And that he is the Thomas who framed that ' sedgeing tale' (tale for 
recitation) of Tristrem, which had the ' steem over gestes,' appears to 
be hardly less certain. Assuredly, that Thomas could never have been 
the Breton's Chronicler of Cornwall,'^ &c. This observation of Mr. 
Lockhart is made in answer to an attempt made by Mr. Price, (editor 
of the 8vo. edition of Warton's History of English Poetry, published in 
1824,) to dispute the claim of Thomas of Ercildoune to the authorship 
of Sir Tristrem. Strange enough, Mr. Lockhart does not seem to be 
aware that his argument cuts two ways, striking equally at Scott's 
theory of identity, and Mr. Price's of distinctiveness. 

Where such authorities differ, it would be presumptuous in us to 
meddle ; and we can only say, that, whatever may become of Scott's 
theory of identity, it appears to be admitted by all antiquaries of any 
competent authority, — Mr. Price excepted, — that he has succeeded in 
demonstrating, with great clearness, the romance edited by him to be 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 181 

the production of the Bard of Ercildoune, — usually termed "The 
Rhymer;" although the tale on which it is founded belongs to a much 
earlier date, and even the original manuscript be not in his hand- 
writing. And if Scott's position be admitted, it establishes the remark- 
able fact, that the earliest known poem, in the English language, as 
well as the purest existing model of the language, and taste of our an- 
cestors, was composed by a native of the Lowlands of Scotland. 

Of this ancient poem, concerning the authenticity of which the lite- 
rary world has been so much divided, only one ancient copy is known 
lo exist. It was presented, along with many other curious literary an- 
tiquities, to the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, in 1744, by Alexan- 
der Boswell of Auchinleck, a lord of session by the title of Lord Au- 
chinleck, and father of James Boswell, the biographer of Johnson. Of 
its previous history, nothing whatever is known. It forms a thick 
quarto volume, containing 334 leaves ; and, besides Sir Tristrem, con- 
tains forty-three other distinct pieces of poetry, most of them mere frag- 
ments. The beginning of each poem is supposed to have been origi- 
nally embellished with an illumination, for the sake of securing which, 
the first leaf has been, in some places, barbarously mutilated, and in 
others torn out altogether. It is written on parchment, in a clear and 
distinct hand, and the character is supposed, by the ablest antiquaries, 
to belong to the earlier part of the fourteenth century. The pieces are 
written in various measures of verses, and there are also several varia- 
tions in the handwriting; but, from the poems regularly following each 
other, there is no reason to suppose that any of the manuscript belongs 
to a later or earlier period than the rest. " Many circumstances lead 
us to conclude," says Scott, "that the manuscript has been written in 
an Anglo-Norman convent. That it has been compiled in England 
there can be little doubt. Every poem which has a particular local 
reference concerns South Britain alone. Not a word is to be found in 
the collection relating particularly to Scotish affairs." Many of the 
minor poems and fragments appended to Sir Tristrem are of a particu- 
larly curious character. Among the rest is one entitled the History of 
Adam and his descendants, which, according to the writer, is of very 
high antiquity, being compiled by no more modern a personage than 
Seth— 

"Tho Seth hadde writen Adame's liif 

And Eve's, that was Adam's wiif 

Right in thilke selve stede, 

Ther Adam was won to bide his bede." 

Seth is said to have deposited his manuscript in Adam's oratory, 
where it remained till discovered by Solomon, who, however, not being 
so expert in deciphering unintelligible characters as some of our modern 



182 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

antiquaries, could make nothing of it without supernatural assistance. 
All these minor pieces arc conjectured, with probability, to be the com- 
positions of the Rhymer, but preserved and compiled after his death by 
others ; as, from some passages in the manuscript, it is evident that it 
was not completed before the year 1330, — nearly forty years after the 
utmost limit assigned by any antiquary to the bard's existence. 

Of the manner in which Scott executed his task as editor, it is unne- 
cessary now to speak. The ablest of our literary antiquaries have long 
since borne testimony to the extraordinary diligence and sagacity with 
which the materials were collected, investigated, and arranged. His in- 
troduction shows that he sought for information from every quarter 
where it was possible to obtain it, — from the early historians and poets of 
foreign countries as well as his own, — from tradition, — from charters, 
and other MSS., mouldering unheeded and unknown. The explanatory 
notes and glossary, which were appended to the work, were most 
copious and satisfactory. " Of the last," observes Mr. Ellis, " it is 
sufficient to say, that it explains whatever is not inexplicable; and that 
we could not, if we wished to do so, point out above three or four pas- 
sages where the sagacity of the editor appears to have been foiled by 
the author's obscurity. With regard to the notes, they contain almost 
an infinite variety of curious information, which had been hitherto un- 
known or unnoticed; and we are persuaded that they would afford 
much amusement even to those readers who may be too indolent to 
derive any from the supei'annuated poetry of Thomas of Ercildoune. 
We must therefore conclude, as we began, by expressing our regret that 
the very limited and scanty edition now printed will preclude many 
from possessing a work which has been compiled with much labour, 
and which is no less creditable to the taste and genius, than to the learn- 
ing of the editor. 

The concluding verses of the romance, by Scott himself, afford suffi- 
cient evidence of the ardour and success with which he studied the 
language, turns of expression, and had even contrived to catch the very 
spirit of the romantic feeling of the olden time. One chief peculiarity 
of this old poem, it will be observed, is the singularity of the versifica- 
tion and i-hythm, which are perfectly unique both in ancient or modern 
verse, and presents such manifest difficulties in the expressions of poeti- 
cal sentiment, or even of dry narrative, as to render the adoption of it 
at so early a period of letters, and with a language scarcely formed, no 
slight matter of marvel. It is conjectured by Scott, indeed, that it was 
mainly from his selection of a measure so broken and difficult, and the 
ease with which he wrought with it, that the Bard of Ercildoune acquired 
the distinguishing appellation of " The Rhymer." If so, Scott himself 
has shown himself scarcely less entitled to the soubriquet, — nay, he has 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 183 

infused a sweetness and pathos into his imitatory stanzas which are not 
surpassed, if equalled, in any part of the rude original. As for exam- 
ple, where his maiden wife brings to him the false report respecting the 
colours hoisted by Ganghardin on his return with Ysonde: — 

" Sche weneth to ben awrake 

Of Tristrem the trew, 
Sche seyth, — ' Thai ben blake, 

As piche is thare hewe.' 
Tristrem threw him bake, 

Trewd Ysonde untrewe, 
His kind hert it brake, 

And sindrid in two ; 
Above, 

Cristes mercie him take! 
He dyed for true love." 

And again in the concluding stanza, where the faithful Ysonde yields 
up her spirit on the body of her deceased lover : — 

" Fairer ladye ere 

Did Britannye never spye, 
I wiche murning chere 

Making on heighe : 
On Tristreme's here, 

Doun con she lye ; 
Rise agayn did sche nere, 

But thare con sche dye 
For wae : — 

Swiche lovers als thei 
Never shall be mae !" 

We have only a few words to add on this branch of our subject, 
respecting the author of the ancient poem. Thomas of Ercildoune 
derived his territorial name from the village of Ercildoune, in the county 
of Berwick, situated on the banks of the Leader, about two miles above 
its junction with the TAveed, and now well known by the modern appel- 
lation of Earlstoun. This village was in ancient times of considerable 
importance, as being occasionally the residence of royalty, and more 
than one royal deed still exists subscribed at " Ei'cheldun," or " Erchel- 
du." One of these is the foundation charter of Melrose Abbey, granted 
by King David I., and dated in June, 1136. At the western point of 
the village still stand the ruins of a tower which was the residence of the 
earliest Scotish poet, — and from what we have said, as far as the mere 
language at least is concerned, the earliest English poet also. He was 
possessed of considerable landed pi'operty, as appears by a charter (still 
in existence) granted by his son, of the family estate, after his death, to 
the Trinity-house of Soultra. Many evidences, indeed, still exist to 
prove that he was, in his own time, a person of high distinction ; asso- 
ciating with noblemen and other dignitaries; testing important docu- 



184 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

merits, with other circumstances, implying an elevated rank in society. 
It is the more singular, therefore, that so much doubt should exist 
respecting his real surname, which circumstance seems to be the prime 
cause of all the confusion respecting his personal identity. An unvary- 
ing tradition assigns to him the name of Learmont; and all writers 
previous to Scott's time seem to have entertained no doubt of its 
correctness. Many modern antiquaries, again, consider his name to 
have been Rhymer, which, it is ascertained, was a proper name in the 
Merse at that period. In the charter just named, his son designates 
himself Films et htBres ThomtB Rhymour de Erc'ddoun ; and he is so 
named in other old documents. But it would be useless here to enter 
farther into a discussion, which has hitherto baffled all research, and 
which there is little probability of ever being satisfactorily settled. 

The anecdotes concerning the Rhymer, which have been handed 
down to us, relate principally to his prophetic character; and many of 
his predictions, with their fulfilment, are spoken of by Wintour, Barbour, 
Fordun, and others of our earliest Scotish writers. But the story by 
which he has been long most familiarly known, is his reputed amour 
with the queen of Faery, whom he wooed and won beneath the famed 
Eildon tree, and accompanied to her own dominions, where he resided 
for several years. The traditional tale, which was rendered into verse 
by Scott, and introduced into the " Border Minstrelsy," bears, that, on 
his return to " middle earth," the queen of Fairyland communicated to 
him, in dark and figurative language, many national events which sub- 
sequently occurred. 

It is a remarkable fact, that some of the predictions attributed to the 
Rhymer continued to animate the adherents of the unfortunate Stuart 
family, down even to their last desperate attempt to re-establish its as- 
cendency in 1745. 

We have said that Scott uniformly passed the summer months with 
his family at Ashiesteel. His intervals of retirement there seem to have 
been periods of unalloyed enjoyment. The romantic situation of the 
house, — the commingled wildness and richness of the scenery, — the 
season of the year, — the sober delights of domestic peace, — and, we 
may well add, the nature of his intellectual employment, so much in 
unison with his feelings and genius, — all this, with the possession of a 
fortune " equal," as he says, " to all the comforts, and some of the ele- 
gances of life," presents to us a picture of private independence, which 
a literary mind might almost be pardoned a sigh of envy in contem- 
plating. In addition, moreover, and as if to fill up the measure of 
earthly happiness, he was amongst " the friends he loved best." " In 
point of society," he says, sjieaking of this oasis in his existence, " we 
dwelt, according to the heartfelt phrase of Scripture, ' amongst our own 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 185 

people ;' and as the distance from the metropolis was only thirty miles, 
we were not out of reach of our Edinburgh friends." We believe we 
may set this down as the most unalloyed tranquil period of Scott's life. 

It was in the autumn of 1804, after the publication of his " Sir Tris- 
trem," that Scott added another distinguished individual to his already 
wide circle of friends, in the person of the celebrated traveller, Mungo 
Park. This acquaintance was of Scott's own making, and it is pleasing 
to know the cordial and affectionate familiarity which subsisted between 
these eminent men, and also that it arose from a strong congeniaHty in 
their tastes and habits. Park, as is well known, was a native of Sel- 
kirkshire, and was born at the farm-house of Fowlshields, on the banks 
of the Yarrow. His father rented his farm from the Duke of Buc- 
cleuch. Mungo, who was the seventh of a family of thirteen, was bred 
up to the profession of medicine, and served an apprenticeship with 
Mr. Anderson, surgeon, Selkirk. After completing his studies at Edin- 
burgh, where he distinguished himself by his thirst of knowledge and 
extraordinary assiduity, he proceeded to London in search of employ- 
ment. Here, by means of a brother-in-law of his own, — then merely a 
journeyman gardener, but who, from an origin much more obscure and 
humble than even Park himself, subsequently raised himself to fame and 
fortune as one of the first botanists in the kingdom, — he was introduced 
to Sir Joseph Banks, through whose interest he was selected by the 
African Association to explore the course of the Niger. Upon his re- 
turn from his perilous journey, in 1797, he married the daughter of his 
old master, and not long afterwards settled as a surgeon in Peebles. 
His adventurous mind, however, pined and fretted under the weary, flat, 
stale, unprofitable, — and we may add laborious, — routine of a country 
surgeon's business. In answer to the remonstrances of a friend, re- 
specting the dangers attending another expedition, he repHed, that " a 
few inglorious winters' practice at Peebles would tend as effectually to 
shorten life as any journey he could undertake." He soon threw up 
his practice in disgust, and retired with his wife to his paternal mansion 
of Fowlshields, quite undecided in his future prospects. The remune- 
ration which he had received from the African Association, together 
with the profits arising from the publication of his travels, meanwhile 
enabled him to live comfortably. It was at this time that Scott and he 
became acquainted, and a constant intercourse, by an exchange of vi- 
sits at each other's residence, was kept up during the shoi't period of the 
traveller's stay in his native country. 

Park was an enthusiastic lover of poetry, more especially the ancient 
minstrel lays with Avhich his native district was rife; and although he 
made no pretension to the laurel crown himself, he had occasionally, 
even from his earliest years, given expression to his feelings and 

2 a 



186 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

thoucrhts in verse. It was not to be wondered at, then, that he should 
testify a particular predilection for the society of one whose mind and 
memory were so richly stored with the ancient ballad lore of his coun- 
try, although his reserve towards strangers in general was carried even 
to a repulsive degree. Scott has somewhere noticed, in particular, his 
friend's strong aversion to be questioned, in promiscuous company, on 
the subject of his adventures, of which grievance, as may be imagined, 
he had frequent cause to complain. The intercourse of the two friends 
was, however, doomed to be a short one. Park soon got notice to hold 
himself in readiness for a second expedition to the Niger; but this cir- 
cumstance he kept profoundly secret, well knowing the remonstrances 
he would have to contend with from his friends and relations, with the 
more affecting appeals of his wife and young family, against a project 
which had literally engrossed his whole thoughts for years. His inten- 
tion was generally suspected, however, and amongst others by Scott; 
and the incident from which he drew his inference was curious enough. 
Happening one day to ride over to Fowlshields on one of his usual 
chance visits, Scott was informed that his friend had strolled out. He 
accordingly alighted, and proceeded on foot up the banks of Park's na- 
tive stream, in hopes of meeting with him. The channel of the river 
is there very rocky and uneven, occasioning many deep pools and ed- 
dies; and in rounding a corner of the bank, he suddenly came upon 
Park, who was engaged in a singular manner. He was standing on 
the brink of one of these pools, into which he, every now and then, 
plunged a large fragment of rock, and seemed earnestly to watch the 
bubbles that rose to the surface consequent on its submersion. After 
observing him for some time, Scott joined him, and asked him jocularly, 
what he meant by pursuing this " child's play ;" when Park replied, in 
an abstracted manner, that this was the plan he had adopted for deter- 
mining the depth of the rivers he had to cross in the interior of Africa, 
judging of their shallowness or profundity by the time which the bub- 
bles took to rise to the surface after plunging in the stone. " From this 
moment," says Scott, " I had no doubt of his having a second explora- 
tory expedition in contemplation." 

The arrangements for Park's second expedition, which had been fixed 
on so early as 1801, were not completed until the winter of 1805, when 
he received notice to proceed to London. His parting interview with 
Scott has been described by the latter in strong and affecting terms. 
Park paid him a farewell visit at Ashiesteel, where he remained during 
the night. Next morning, Scott convoyed him (to use the Scotish ver- 
nacular) part of his way back to Fowlshields, across the wild chain of 
pastoral hills that divide the vales of Tweed and Yarrow. They 
were both, of course, on horseback. Park talked much, and with 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 187 

great animation, of his intended expedition; stating, at the same 
time, his determination of departing stealthily, under some pretence, 
to Edinburgh, in order to avoid the distress of a formal parting with 
his wife and family. At this point of their conversation, the two 
friends were on the top of William Hoperidge, and " the autumnal mist, 
which floated slowly and heavily down the valley, presented," says 
Scott, " a striking emblem of the troubled and uncertain prospect of 
my friend's undertaking." As it was contemplated that Park should be 
accompanied in his expedition through the interior of Africa by a small 
military force, Scott seized the opportunity of remonstrating strongly 
against this plan, as impolitic and dangerous, — the number of soldiers 
intended for the duty being, as he thought, insufficient to protect him 
from an assault by the natives, yet large enough to excite ill-will and 
suspicion. Park combated these objections of his friend, by desci'ibing 
the divided and disorganized condition of the various petty kingdoms he 
would have occasion to traverse, which rendered a combined movement 
against him extremely improbable ; and also referred to the circumstance 
of guarded caravans, and travellers of all nations, being permitted to 
travel unmolested through these territories, upon paying a small tribute 
or impost. This interesting conversation occupied the two friends till 
they came to a part of the moor where they had previously agreed to 
separate, and where a narrow ditch divided the moor from the public 
road. In passing over the ditch, Pai-k's horse stumbled and nearly fell 
under him. Scott, who remained on the other side, observed, half jocu- 
larly, half seriously, "I am afraid, Mungo, that is a bad omen;" to 
which Park replied, smiling, in the words of the old Scotish adage, 
'■'■ Freits follow them that freits follow ;"*' and with this proverbial ex- 
pression, he put spurs to his horse, as if afraid of a ceremonious fare- 
well, and was speedily out of his friend's sight — alas ! for ever. 

Scott's friendship for Mungo extended itself to the rest of Park's 
family. It was a brother of the traveller who made a remark to Scott, 
which the latter used to relate with great glee, and which corroborates 
what has previously been said respecting his fearless style of riding. 
They were one day following the chase together, when Archibald Park, 
remarking the undaunted style in which Scott took (in sportsman's 
phrase) every thing befoi*e him, observed, — " Od, ye'll never halt till ye 
get a fa' that 'ill send ye hame wi' yere feet foremost!" Sir Walter 
replied, that when he got upon horseback he felt himself quite changed, 
entering as it were upon another sort of existence, and having no power 
of restraint over himself. May we not, in this confession alone, clearly 
discover the secret of that power of glowing description of the charge 
and the chase, which flowed from his pen with a force that swept away 
the feelings of his readers with the strength of the whirlwind? 

* Freely rendered, — Omens attend on those who attend to them. 



188 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

We have now reached the verge of that period when the history of 
Scott's hfe becomes, with a few important exceptions, little else than the 
history of liis numerous publications. At all events, his literary and 
social character become now so inseparably intermingled, that they 
must necessarily progress together in our narrative. 

It was during his residence at Ashiesteel, in the autumn of 1804, that 
Scott composed the larger portion of his first gi-eat original work, which 
he completed in the ensuing winter, — the " Lay of the Last Minstrel." 
This noble poem, the publication of which constitutes a distinct era in 
British literature, had been the subject of reflection with him for years ; 
and its different characteristics appear to have had their origin less in 
design, than in a variety of accidental causes, — or rather, to have been 
constructed some-what after the fashion of his future mansion at Abbots- 
ford. Subject, versification, incidental allusion and episode, — all were 
the result of casual reflection, and adopted at distant intervals: laid out, 
indeed, more after tlie manner of a drama than a simple poetical narra- 
tive. It is curious to trace the origin and growth of this admirable 
production. It was during his residence at his cottage at Lasswade, 
that accident, as he says, " dictated both a theme and a measure ;" and 
the following is his own account of the matter : — 

" The lovely young Countess of Dalkeith, afterwards Harriet Duchess 
of Buccleuch, had come to the land of her husband with the desire of 
making herself acquainted with its traditions and customs. All who 
remember this lady, will agree, that the intellectual character of her 
extreme beauty, the amenity and courtesy of her manners, the soundness 
of her understanding, and her unbounded benevolence, gave more the 
idea of an angelic visitant than of a beirig belonging to this nether 
world ;* and such a thought was but too consistent with the short 
space she was permitted to tarry amongst us. Of course, when all 
made it a pride and pleasure to gratify her wishes, she soon heard 
enough of border lore ; amongst others, an aged gentleman of property ,"[■ 

* Scott's enthusiastic testimony to the graces and merits of this lady, who was 
the daughter of Viscount Sydney, is not less in tlie language of truth than 
poetry. In every district of her husband's numerous and princely domains, 
more especially in the pastoral Border land, the mouth of every inhabitant in 
every dwelling, is, to this liour, filled with tales of her benevolence, and with 
blessings on her memory. She seems, indeed, to have been in every respect the 
prototype of Allan Cunningham's " Lady Ann." This peerless woman died in 
1814, and the poet paid a tribute to her virtues in some exquisite verses, which 
our limits preclude us from inserting. In one of his letters to Miss Seward, he 
observes, " that if requested by the Countess of Dalkeith, he would write a poem 
on a broomstick." Little did he think at the time, he was to live to write her 
epitaph. 

t This was Mr. Beattie of Mickledale, a man then considerably upwards of 
eighty, of a shrewd and sarcastic temper, which he did not at all times suppress, 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 189 

near Langholm, communicated to her ladyship the story of Gilpin 
Horner, a tradition in which the narrator and many more of that coun- 
try were firm believers. The young countess, much delighted with the 
legend, and the gravity and full confidence with which it was told, 
enjoined it on me as a task to compose a ballad on the subject. Of 
course, to hear was to obey ; and thus the goblin story, objected to by 
several critics as an excrescence upon the poem, was, in fact, the occa- 
sion of its being written." The worth of this objection by the critics 
we will afterwards canvass at the proper season. In the mean time, 
respecting the peculiar versification he adopted. 

Our readers will recollect of our mentioning a visit which Scott 
received at Lasswade, from Sir John Stoddart, whilst that gentleman was 
preparing his work on the local scenery of Scotland. Sir John, it seems, 
was an ardent admirer of the poetry of the Lake-school, then in the first 
flush of its reputation ; and being personally acquainted with the authors, 
and possessed of a tenacious memory, he repeated to Scott long hlads 
•of poems that had not yet appeared in print. One of these, equally 
from the strength of its language, and the genius displayed in it, espe- 
cially riveted Scott's attention : and no one who has perused the singu- 
lar poem, or rather fragment, of " Christabel," will feel much surprise 
that it did so. This was, moreover, the first time that Scott had heard 
the irregular structure of stanza used in serious poetry ; and its way- 
ward character appeared to him well suited for a tale of romance, and 
especially for his contemplated extravaganza about Gilpin Horner, from 
the facilities it afforded in adapting the sound to the sense. Scott, with 
that manly frankness which particularly marked his literary character, 
candidly acknowledges his obligation to Mr. Coleridge in this respect, 
but justly repels the ridiculous insinuations thrown out in various quar- 
ters, that he was either a copyist or a parodist of any of the Lake-school 
poets. 

It was more than a twelvemonth, however, after being thus provided 
with a subject and a measure, that he tried his hand on the first two or 
three stanzas of the " Lay." These he submitted to the judgment of 
two* literary friends, who visited him one day at his cottage, and for 

as the following anecdote will show. A worthy clergyman, now deceased, with 
better good will than taste, was endeavouring to push the senior forward in his 
recollection of border ballads and legends, by expressing reiterated surprise at 
his wonderful memory. " No, sir," said old Mickledale ; " my memory is good 
for little, for it cannot retain what ought to be preserved. I can remember these 
stories about the auld riding days, which are of no earthly importance; but 
were you, reverend sir, to repeat your best sermon in this drawing-room, I could 
not tell you, half an hour afterwards, what you had been speaking about." 

* These were, the late William Erskine, Esq. afterwards Lord Kinneder, for- 
merly mentioned; and George Cranston, Esq. now a lord of session, by the title 



190 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

whose opinions he entertained great deference ; and the result was cu- 
rious enough. The character of the poetry, both as to language and 
ideas, was so perfectly new to them, — took them so much by surprise, — 
that they knew not what to make of it. They read and re-read, — pon- 
dered — hesitated; and at last got up, took up their hats, and went away 
without scarcely a syllable of observation. Attributing their very un- 
usual conduct to disgust, which their friendship prevented them from 
expressing, Scott threw his manuscript into the fire, and digested his 
vexation as he best could. Not long afterwards, however, one of these 
same gentlemen inquired, with much interest, after the progress of the 
romance, confessing the inability of himself and friend to make up their 
minds for some time about a production so much out of the common 
road, but that their ultimate decision had been favourable. Encouraged 
by this information, Scott recommenced his task; and it was now that 
the idea of putting it in the form of a " sedgeing tale" struck him. He 
accordingly introduced the old Minstrel as narrator : and from this the 
poem subsequently took its name. 

The work was shown to various friends during its progress; amongst 
others to Mr. Jeffrey, whose critical acumen enabled him at once to 
appreciate its beauties. "And thus the poem," says Scott, " being once 
licensed by the critics as fit for the market, was soon finished, proceed- 
ing at about the rate of a canto a week. There was, indeed, little occa- 
sion for pause or hesitation, when a troublesome rhyme might be 
accommodated by an alteration of the stanzas, or where an incorrect 
measure might be remedied by a variation in the rhyme. It was finally 
published in 1805, and may be regarded as the first work in which the 
writer, who has since been so voluminous, laid his claims to be con- 
sidered as an original author." 

Respecting the merits and defects of the poem thus originated and 
brought to completion, it would procure us, we suspect, less credit than 
ridicule, were we, at this time of day, to proceed to an analysis of them. 
It was hailed at once and universally as one of the most splendid pro- 
ductions that had ever emanated from British genius ; and an undimi- 
nished reputation of nearly thirty years' continuance pretty plainly 
proves, that novelty was not in this, as in many cases, the chief recom- 
mendation to the applause of the cotemporary public. It is question- 
able, indeed, whether this be not the most entirely delightful of all 
Scott's larger poems; for even in those passages where the poetic sen- 

of Lord Corehouse, — a gentleman whose eminence and success in his profession 
can scarcely reconcile us to the loss of his exquisite taste and brilliant talents to 
the cause of literature. We suspect, however, any question as to the comparative 
usefulness of the judge and the litterateur would be accounted high treason to 
the sovereignty of common sense. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 191 

timent most flags, the interest is sustained by the wildly imaginative 
character of the narrative, and the strikingly minute descriptions of men 
and things which belonged, we might almost say, from the complete 
change since taken place in the character and condition of society, to 
another world ; yet still united with the present by links the most pow- 
erful which can enchain the human feelings. These latter passages, 
indeed, remind us of the dumb, ghostly pageants in Shakspeare's trage- 
dies, which are not of, but still fearfully connected with, the progress of 
the living drama. 

But it is evidently to the author's lucky idea of introducing the old 
Minstrel, that the work is indebted for much, if not the principal share, 
of its popularity ; and we humbly opine that the critics preceding us 
have not been sufficiently discerning as to the intrinsic importance of 
this character to the whole poem. The introductory stanzas at once 
engage our attention, and take captive our feelings. We would wil- 
lingly toil through a volume as awfully ponderous, and as dismally dry 
as the whole combined statutes at large, could we but catch a glimpse, 
now and then, of the "Latest Minstrel," and a ijsw notes from 

"The harp, his sole remaining joy," 

until we had seen and heard all that was to be learnt of or from the 
" last of all the Bards." There is one circumstance we must here re- 
mark, which we do not recollect to have seen any where adverted to 
before, namely, that it is only from the mouth of one of the Minstrel's 
calling, that versification so wantonly wayward and varied as frequently 
occurs throughout the poem, could with any propriety proceed. The 
character, too, gives occasion for pauses of seasonable repose from the 
heady current of the narrative ; and these parentheses, moreover, are 
filled up with snatches of the most sublime poetry, perhaps, that is to be 
found in any age or language. We cannot resist the temptation of ex- 
tracting one of these fine episodes, which, although certainly not the 
best of the number, is mournfully appi'opriate to the object of our pre- 
sent task. It is the introduction to Canto V. 

" Call it not vain : — they do not err, 

Who say, that when the poet dies, 
Mute nature mourns her worshipper, 

And celebrates his obsequies; 
Who say, tall cliff, and cavern lone, 
For the departed bard make moan; 
That mountains weep in crystal rill; 
That flowers in tears of balm distil; 
Through his loved groves that breezes sigh, 
And oaks, in deeper groans, reply; 
And rivers teach their rushing wave 
To murmur dirges round his grave. 



192 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

" Not that, in sooth, o'er mortal urn, 

Those things inanimate can mourn; 

But that the stream, the wood, the gale, 

Is vocal with the plaintive wail 

Of those who, else forgotten long, 

Lived in the poet's faithful song. 

And, with the poet's parting breath. 

Whose memory feels a second death. 

The maid's pale shade, who wails her lot, 

That love, true love, should be forgot. 

From rose and hawthorn shakes the tear 

Upon the gentle Minstrel's bier : 

The phantom knight, his glory fled. 

Mourns o'er the field he heaped with dead; 

Mounts the wild blast that sweeps amain, 

And shrieks along the battle plain ; 

The chief, whose antique crownlet long 

Still sparkled in the feudal song. 

Now from the mountain's misty throne, 

Sees in the thanedom, once his own, 

His ashes undistinguished lie ; 

His place, his power, his memory die; 

His groans the lonely caverns fill; 

His tears of rage impel the rill : — 

All mourn the Minstrel's harp unstrung, 

Their name unknown, their praise unsung." 

We have said tliat the character of the gobUn who acts such a con- 
spicuous part in the drama, has been objected to, by various critics, as 
an "excrescence" on the poem; which means, we apprehend, some- 
thing which might have been dispensed with. How they could come 
to this conclusion, we are totally unable to conceive. We certainly 
cannot agree with Mr. Cunningham, that " we might as well take the 
sap from the tree, in the hope that it will live," as take away the goblin 
from the story; but he is assuredly correct, when he says that "the in- 
terest of the poem depends upon the supernatural, and that the super- 
natural was the belief of the times of which the poet gives so true an 
image." The only feasible fault which can, in our opinion, be objected 
to the imp, is his nondescript character. He is neither brownie, fairy, 
warlock, nor ghost — in short, he belongs to none of the agnized tribes 
of imps or worricows peculiar to Scotland; nor, so far as we are aware, 
any other country. Our imagination can picture nothing like this being, 
but the little grinning red-cowied goblin that figures in the Temptation 
of St. Anthony. The story on which his character is founded, as re- 
lated by Mr. Beattie, and which he got, he said, from an old man named 
Anderson, a native of the place (Todshawhill of Eskdale-muir) where 
the goblin appeared, is as follows. Two men were tethei'ing their 
horses, lute one evening, upon their outfield pasture for the night, when 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 193 

they heard a voice, at some distance, crying, " tint, tint, tint," (lost) 
when one of them, named Moffat, called out, "What deil's tint you? 
come here." Upon which a creature appeared, with something like a 
human form, but surprisingly little, distorted in features, and mis-shapen 
in limbs. The two men instantly took to their heels homewards, but 
the goblin followed them, and Moffat having fallen by the way, it ran 
over him, and upon getting to his house he found it already there. It 
abode with the family a long time; was undoubtedly flesh and blood; 
ate and drank with the rest; was particularly fond of cream, which it 
stole on every opportunity. It was besides very mischievous in dispo- 
sition, and beat and scratched the children who provoked it, without 
mercy. But that it was not entirely destitute of feeling of a certain 
description, is evident from the following incident : One of the children 
having one day struck it such a blow on the side of the head that it 
tumbled over, it immediately started up, exclaiming, "Aha, Will o' 
Moffat, but you strike sair !" It was often heard calling on some one 
named Peter Bertram, who — whether man, warlock, or devil — appears 
to have been its master, from the circumstances attending its disappear- 
ance. Whilst playing with the children one evening, a loud shrill voice 
was heard to call out three times '■'■Gilpin Horner !'''' Starting up, it 
exclaimed, " That is me, I must away," observing, at the same time, 
that it was the voice of Peter Bertram that called for him. It accord- 
ingly disappeared, " and they saw it no more." 

Such is the sort of being to whom Scott assigns a very important 
part in the plot of his story. And it really seems, at first sight, some- 
what provoking, if not derogatory to the dignity of his poem, that a 
creature of such undignified propensities as the licking of cream and the 
scratching of children, should be made the agent for influencing the re- 
sult of battles and the fate of noble families. But this objection again 
is partly met by the fact, that the imp works most of his miracles by 
the power of the " book of gramarye," of which he possesses himself. 
At all events, the poet had tradition for the existence of his goblin-page ; 
and even had he not, he was surely as well entitled to an imp of his 
own creation as any son of ignorance during the days of superstition. 
To conclude, who can cherish an angry feeling with the goblin, when 
we are told that but for him the poem would never have been written 
at all? 

We would fain tarry awhile over the beauties of this noble produc- 
tion, our old love for it having lately received a fresh impulse by an 
examination of the beautiful edition just published, with many valuable 
notes and explanations by the erudite editor. As almost every line, 
however, has long since been the subject of criticism, and, independently 
of that, must be familiar to every reader of any pretension to taste, we 

2 B 



194 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

feel the propriety of proceeding onwards to another stage of our jour- 
ney, which is yet a long one. 

The Lay was published in quarto, at the price of ll. 5s., by Long- 
man and Company of London, and Archibald Constable and Company, 
Edinburgh. "The work, brought out on the usual terms of division of 
profits between the author and publishers, was not long after purchased 
by them for £500, to which Messrs. Longman and Company after- 
wards added £100, in their own unsolicited kindness, in consequence 
of the uncommon success of the work. It was handsomely given to 
supply the loss of a fine horse which broke down suddenly, while the 
author was riding with one of the worthy publishers." The gentleman 
here alluded to was Mr. Rees : such an incident, thus acknowledged, is 
honourable to all parties. 

The success of the work was, we believe, almost without precedent. 
Every tongue was eloquent with praise, and redolent of quotation. In 
Scotland, the sentiment of applause was mingled with that of wonder. 
It was so entirely out of the usual channel of their national poetry, yet 
spoke the chivalric spirit of old Scotia with such fervour and truth, that 
even their sorrow for the loss of poor Burns, then recent and poignant, 
was for awhile forgotten in exultation at the appearance of a successor 
who could strike the national lyre with a bolder sweep, if not with equal 
pathos. The " Lay" went through six editions in two years, and Scott 
himself informs us, (1830) that upwards of thirty thousand copies of 
the poem were sold by the trade ; and in stating this, observes, very 
truly, as every one will agi'ee, " that he had to perform a task difficult 
to human vanity, when called upon to make the necessary deductions 
from his own merits in a calm attempt to account for his popularity." 
That he expected considerable success he freely confesses, but, as will 
be better seen in the sequel, the result went far beyond whatever expec- 
tations he could have formed, however extravagant. His genius at- 
tracted the attention of those in high places — even of royalty itself: and 
the consequences to his future fortunes were as effectually and perma- 
nently beneficial, as gratifying in the manner in which they came. 

It is much to be regretted, that the manuscript of this, Scott's first 
great poem, was not preserved by him. The fact, however, affords 
another proof of the entire absence of vanity in his nature, and shows 
how perfectly free was his manly mind from all that paltry self-conceit 
which so oflen disfigures the character of successful literary men. Had 
he anticipated how precious such a document was afterwards to be- 
come, in a sense more urgent than attaches to a mere literary curiosity, 
there is little doubt the fact would have been otherwise. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROM HIS APPOINTMENT AS CLERK OF SESSION IN 1806, TO THE PUB- 
LICATION OF "VISION OF DON RODERICK" IN 1811. 

There can scarcely be a more pleasing object of contemplation than 
the career of a man raising himself above the sphere and circumstances 
of his original condition, — " achieving greatness," as the poet hath it — 
solely by his own genius and industry. Scott had not much to contend 
with, certainly, in obtaining an independence considerably more than 
sufficient to secure to any man of common prudence, every thing that 
the poet, at least, seems to have considered necessary to human com- 
fort, for the rest of his life.* But this very circumstance — the certainty 
of being secured against future indigence — is what we regard as af- 
fording the most indubitable proof of the active energy of Scott's genius, 
and as one of his strongest claims to the admiration of mankind. The 
indolence of literary men, after the exciting cause, be it for fame or for- 
tune, that first stimulated them to exertion, is past — from the time of 
Thomson, lying in bed all day, because, as he alleged, he had " no 
motive" to rise, down to others of the present time, whose early mani- 
festations gave equal, if not greater, promise of future excellence — is 
notorious. How many instances have we not seen of men of the most 
undoubted talents dropping out of their position in the literary world ; 
and, in too many instances, alas ! out of the ranks of society altogether, 
into obscurity, indigence, and misery. The causes (for there are many) 
of all this, it would be a question too lengthy, as well as too painful, to 
enter upon in this place — 

"'Tis true, — 'tis pity; pity 'tis 'tis true!" 

Indolence, however, — indolence, want of energy and perseverance, 
be the authors necessitous or independent, is undoubtedly one of the 
most general causes of a falling off in literary reputations. It is there- 
fore, we repeat, what we reckon one of the highest points of excellence 
in Scott's character, moral as well as intellectual, that, unstimulated by 

* "P. What riches give us, let us, then, enquire. 

Meat, fire, and clothes. B. What more? P. Meat, clothes, and fire. 

Is this too little ? Would you more than live ? 

■»*»*««# 

What can they give ? 

Pope's Moral Essays. 



196 LIFE or SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

necessity, and even afterwards, when he had fondly believed himself in 
the possession of a magnificent fortune, and a fame that had no parallel 
(or only one) in the annals of literature, his pen was as busy as if the 
mouths he fed depended on his activity for the supply of their wants. 

Let us think for a moment, — " what if Scott, satisfied with his happy 
independence, and still happier prospects, had settled himself down in 
easy indolence, discharging perhaps all the duties of a good member of 
society, in the conventional meaning of the phrase, but distinguished for 
nothing else, perhaps, than the goodness of his dinners, or, at best, the 
faithful fulfilment of his office as a country magistrate?" This is the 
true way of putting the position to the test. The loss to the cause of 
literature is the least consideration in this supposition ; and we leave to 
the philanthropist to calculate the amount of human enjoyment, and that 
of the highest kind, which would thereby have been lost. But the ques- 
tion assumes a more substantial form, when we reflect upon the impulse 
which industry and the fine arts have received by the exuberant genius 
of this one man. How many thousands of individuals, from the printer 
to the book-binder, have derived, are deriving, and will continue to de- 
rive subsistence from the labours of his single pen? This is a point in 
the economy of society which seems to have been hitherto entirely over- 
looked in judging of the comparative merits of literary men among their 
fellows. People never seem to consider that a voluminous author, if he 
does nothing else, confers the greatest of all possible benefits on an im- 
mense portion of those who are somewhat too exclusively termed the 
" working classes," by giving them the means of honest employment. 
And too often, alas ! the man who is effecting all this may himself be 
the while pining in obscurity and starvation ! — his only reward, perhaps, 
for all the good he has done to his fellow creatures, abuse or ridicule. 
It is so far well that such was not the fate with the subject of our nar- 
rative. • 

We have said that hopes had been held out to Scott of his obtaining 
some one of the lucrative and easy situations connected with the court 
of session, and in 1805 the prospect of an appointment of this nature 
opened upon him. Mr. George Home, one of the principal clerks of 
session — and it may be remarked, one of the original writers in the 
" Mirror," — after holding his office upwards of thirty years, about this 
time found it necessary, in consequence of advanced age and infirmi- 
ties, to retire, and Scott was induced to offer himself as successor. The 
office is in the gift of the crown, and Scott had already secured by his 
own merits, not only the favorable notice of royalty itself, but of those 
by whom i-oyalty is generally guided in the distribution of its public fa- 
vours. Mr. Pitt was then in power, and his admiration of the " Lay of 
the last Minstrel" was such as to lead him to express a wish to Scott's 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 197 

personal friend, the right honourable William Dundas, now lord clerk 
register for Scotland, that he would point out the first opportunity 
wherein he (Mr. Pitt) could serve the author. Thus the appointment 
Scott now sought for was in a manner secured to him beforehand. It 
was not to be immediately profitable to him, however. " As the law 
then stood, such official persons were entitled to bargain with their suc- 
cessors, either for a sum of money, which was usually a considerable 
one, or for an interest in the emoluments of the situation during their 
life. My predecessor, whose services had been usually meritorious, sti- 
pulated for the emoluments of the office during his life, while I should 
enjoy the survivorship, on the condition that I discharged the duties of 
the office in the mean time." Upon this understanding the commission 
was made out and signed by his majesty George III., who, it is credibly 
stated, remarked on the occasion, " that he was happy he had it in his 
power to reward a man of such distinguished merit." All was thus 
completed, with the exception of the payment of fees ; and Scott, who 
had come to London with his predecessor's resignation, was in hourly 
expectation of receiving the other document, when the nation was stun- 
ned to the centre by the sudden demise of the illustrious Pitt, which took 
place on the 23d of January, 1806. The " Fox and Grenville admi- 
nistration," as is well known, succeeded, and being entirely on the other 
side of politics from their predecessors, Scott found it necessary to make 
interest with the new ministry for the passing of his grant. Mr. Fox, 
who, no less than his political rival, was an ardent admirer of Scott's 
genius, at once acceded to the request. Upon looking into the docu- 
ment, however, it was found that, either through hurry or mistake, Mr. 
Home's interest had been entirely omitted in it, by which, had Scott died 
before him, the old gentleman would have lost the emoluments of the 
office which it had been stipulated he should retain. Scott, therefore, 
declined receiving it in such a state, and applied to have it made out 
afresh in the proper terms. This was, of course, immediately complied 
with, and the new document ordered to be drawn up ; but the directions 
accompanying the order were somewhat at variance with the formality 
usual on such occasions, and, besides, so inconsistent with the well 
known dismterested generosity of character which distinguished the 
great man then at the head of affairs, that we record the circumstance 
with as much regret as we learned it with surprise. But the fact, al- 
though not mentioned by Scott himself, is, we believe, beyond a doubt, 
that Fox directed that it should be made out as a favour coming directly 
from his own administration. As such an understanding, from the 
punctilious jealousy which then existed between the rival factions, was 
reckoned as implying either some compromise or desertion of principle 
on the part of the expectant, (then well known to be a zealous tory,) or 



198 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

was, at least, a breach of the understood etiquette which precluded an 
opponent of the ministry from accepting a public office in their gift, the 
noblemen (Lords Stafford and Somerville) who had chiefly interested 
themselves in Scott's appointment, made a representation to Earl Spen- 
cer on the subject. The poet himself had likewise an interview with 
that nobleman, who at once admitted the force of the objection, and or- 
dered the commission to be made out as originally proposed, — adding, 
" that the matter having received the royal assent, he regarded only as 
a claim of justice what he would have willingly done as an act of fa- 
vour." The grant was made out accordingly, and Scott's interest 
placed beyond all further danger of " mistakes," whether designed or 
accidental. 

The question occurs — what, if any, was the motive of Mr. Fox for 
testifying a solicitude in having it thought that the grant was a personal 
act of his own? The precarious elevation of his party at the time cer- 
tainly made it natural that he should Avish to conciliate the favour of a 
man of such popular genius, besides possessing so many influential 
friends, as Mr. Scott. But Fox's well known enthusiasm in literary 
matters, together with his utter contempt of all selfish cajolery, renders 
it just as probable, on the other hand, that it was done solely with a 
view to secure Scott's friendship, merely as a man of talent. Be it as 
it may, it is certain that Fox manifested a strong desire to cultivate a 
personal intimacy with the poet, and, as we are informed, even tempted 
the latter with an invitation to his residence at St. Ann's Hill, for the 
purpose of showing him some MSS. which might prove useful in com- 
piling the life of Dryden, which Scott was then understood to be en- 
gaged with. Such flattering overtures, however, the unhappy state of 
the political world prevented Scott from answering in the manner his 
inclinations doubtless prompted him to do. All he says in reference to 
the preceding transaction is, that, " in his private capacity, there is no 
man to whom I would have been more proud to owe an obligation, had 
I been so distinguished." But he seems to have thought it proper at the 
same time to remark, — " I never saw Mr. Fox on this, or any other oc- 
casion, and never made any application to him, conceiving that in so 
doing I might have been supposed to express political opinions contrary 
to those which I had always professed." 

But if Scott really felt in any way dissatisfied with the conduct of 
Mr. Fox in the above matter, he had prudence and good feeling enough 
to smother his resentment in his own bosom; and the publication of his 
next great poem, " Marmion," — sufficiently evinced that neither private 
pique nor political hostility could obscure his sense of the great public 
talents and public virtues of that illustrious statesman. Fox, as is well 
known, followed his great rival to the grave in the short space of eight 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 199 

months,* and the introduction to Marmion contains, perhaps, the most 
splendid tribute to the merits of both that ever was poured forth over 
the bier of departed greatness. It is more than splendid ; it is affecting 
even to tears. 

" Nor mourn ye less his perished worth 
Who bade the conqueror go forth, 
And launched that thunderbolt of war 
On Egypt, Hafnia,t Trafalgar ; 
Who, born to guide such high emprize 
For Britain's weal, was early wise; 
Alas! to whom the Almighty gave, 
For Britain's sins, an early grave; 
His worth, who, in his mightiest hour, 
A bauble held his place of power, 
Spurned at the sordid lust of pelf, 
And served his Albion for herself." 



" Oh, think how, to his latest day. 

When death, just hov'ring claimed his prey, 

With Palinure's unaltered mood, 

Firm at his dangerous post he stood; 

Each call for needful rest repelled. 

With dying hand the rudder held. 

Till, in his fall, with fateful sway, 

The steerage of the realm gave way ! 

" Nor yet suppress the generous sigh, 

Because his rival slumbers nigh : 

Nor be thy requiescat dumb 

Lest it be said o'er Fox's tomb, 

* For talents mourn, untimely lost, 

' When best employed, and wanted most;'t 

Mourn genius high and lore profound, 

And wit that loved to play, not wound; 

And all the reasoning powers divine, 

To penetrate, resolve, combine, 

* He died on the 13th September, 1806. 

t Copenhagen. The poet, in the passage preceding our extract, pays a tribute 
scarcely less splendid to the memory of the scarcely less illustrious Nelson, who 
fell at Trafalgar on the 21st October, 1806. We may here observe, that it is the 
poetry and not the political sentiment, in these quotations, we wish to place before 
our readers. 

X " To explain the seeming inconsistency," says Mr. Chambers, " of this ex- 
pression with Sir Walter's general opinions on politics, it may be mentioned 
that the whole couplet, with inverted commas, was written by the late Marquis 
of Abercorn, (the patron and employer of Sir Walter's father, and afterwards of 
his brother Thomas,) and inserted at his express request, while the sheet was 
in proof." 



200 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

And feeling keen, and fancy's glow, — 
They sleep with him who sleeps below !" 



" When Europe crouched to France's yoke, 
And Austria bent and Prussia broke, 
And the firm Russian's purpose brave 
Was bartered by a timorous slave. 
Even then, dishonour's peace he spurned, 
The sullied olive-branch returned, 
Stood for his country's glory fast, 
And nailed her colours to the mast ! 
Heaven, to reward his firmness, gave 
A portion in this honoured grave ; 
And ne'er held marble in its trust 
Of two such woundrous men the dust! 
With more than mortal powers endowed, 
How high they soared above the crowd ! 
Theirs was no common party race, 
Jostling by dark intrigue for place ; 
Like fabled gods, their mighty war 
Shook realms and nations in its jar; 
Beneath each banner proud to stand, 
Looked up the noblest of the land. 
Till through the British world were known 
The names of Pitt and Fox alone!" 

The following lines, besides being replete with the noblest feeling and 
most generous sentiment, contain a figure which is, we believe, perfectly- 
unique in the annals of poetry. It is true, perhaps, that never another 
such occasion presented itself for the conception of the like image. 

" Genius and Taste and Talent gone, 
Forever tombed beneath the stone. 
Where, taming thought to human pride! 
The mighty chiefs sleep side by side. 
Drop upon Fox's grave the tear 
'Twill trickle to his rival's bier; 
O'er Pitt's the mournful requiem sound, 
And Fox's shall the notes rebound. 
The solemn echo seems to cry, — 
' Here let their discord with them die ; 
Speak not for those a separate doom 
Whom Fate made brothers in the tomb, 
But search the land of living men, 
Where wilt thou find their like again?' " 

And "with the following beautiful expression of affectionate gratitude 
for their mutual kindness to himself, the poet concludes his lofty monody 
o'er the twin-ashes of " Genius departed." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 201 

" Rest, ardent spirits ! till the cries 

Of dying nature bid you rise; 

Not even your Britain's groans can pierce 

The leaden silence of your hearse : 

Then, oh ! how impotent and vain 

This grateful tributary strain. 

TJiough not unmarked from northern clime, 

Ye heard the Border Minstrel's rhyme : 

His Gothic harp has o'er you rung, 

The Bard you deigned to praise, your deathless name has sung." 

Before leaving the subject which led us into the above quotations, it 
may be mentioned that nearly six years elapsed ere Scott began to en- 
joy the emoluments, whilst discharging the duties, of his appointment as 
principal clerk of session ; at which period the provision of a retiring 
annuity to superannuated officers was substituted for the disreputable 
system of allowing them to dispose of their places by private traffic. 
Upon this, Mr. Home handsomely surrendered up all interest in his for- 
mer office to his successor, who was thereby admitted to the full benefits 
of the situation. 

It was an odd enough coincidence, and one which occasioned no 
little "talk" at that time of political excitement, that the appointment of 
Walter Scott, a zealous tory, to the situation of principal clerk of session, 
was announced in the same Gazette, (March 8, 1806,) which contained 
the nomination of Messrs. Erskine and Clerk to the offices of lord advo- 
cate and solicitor general, just vacated, according to custom, by the late 
tory holders, Sir James Montgomery and Mr. Robert Blair. It is also 
remarkable, that at this period, Lord Melville, who, with his kinsman, 
the Honourable William Dundas, had exerted himself most zealously to 
obtain Scott's preferment, was now under impeachment of the house of 
commons, for supposed high crimes and misdemeanours. 

If Scott's appointment was fortunate for himself, it may be regarded 
as no less fortunate for the world. At the period we speak of he main- 
tained both a country and town residence ; and in the latter at least, 
he lived in a style of liberal hospitality which, with his other expenses, 
must have required the prudent expenditure of every penny of his income, 
which could not then be much above £700 a year. It must, besides, 
be kept in mind that he had a young family rising around him, whose 
future provision must be cared for. Had the above, or a similar situa- 
tion, therefore, not speedily opened up to him, there is the strongest 
probability, that, however much attached to the muses, and however 
much favoured by them, he would have unceremoniously bid them good 
bye, and, as he expresses it, buckled himself resolutely to " the toil by 
day, the lamp by night," in the labours of his profession. His moral 
courage was fully adequate to the sacrifice; and although his talents 

2 c 



202 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

as a lawyer may not have been of the first order, yet the host of influ- 
ential friends who were now banded around him were sufficient to assure 
him of the certainty of adding several hundreds a year more to his 
income. His distrust of the stability of popularity seems, indeed, to 
have been a sort of active principle within him throughout life, although, 
as he confesses, he experienced little of its fickleness in his own person. 
We have now before us a proof of his jealous caution in this respect, 
even at a late period of his life ; and we are induced to give it both for 
the reason mentioned, and because it affords another unanswerable con- 
tradiction (if any indeed be necessary) to the calumny so often reite- 
rated against his fair fame, of an indifference to, if not a paltry jealousy 
of, the merits of young authors. This letter is dated in 1821, and 
addressed to a gentleman who had transmitted him a newly published 
poem of his own composition, with an intimation of his resolution to 
abandon the service of the muses : — 

" From the opinion which I have been enabled to form of the piece, 
after a hasty revisal, I think you are rash in renouncing the pursuit of 
letters, although I would by no means recommend that you should sacri- 
fice to that pursuit the time which must necessarily be employed in the 
graver and duller studies which lead to an honourable independence. 
Literature, undertaken as a means of living, is very apt to degrade its 
professors ; but when it comes in aid of those whose livelihood is inde- 
pendent of success with the public, it always exalts their character, and 
very often adds materially to their fortune. I hope, therefore, you will 
use your taste for poetry as a staff on which to lean occasionally, but 
not as a crutch to trust to for constant support. Let your studies, there- 
fore, relieve your labours in the weightier matters of the law, and you 
will find that your chance of attracting the public attention, when you 
again make such an efliDrt, will be greater the less you appear to need 
it : and if the caprice of the public should pass over your merit without 
notice, you will have the consoling reflection that they may withdraw 
praise, but cannot affect your independence. 

" Perhaps I should have said more of (the piece) and less of the 

author, but I have arrived at that age when the young poet is more 
interesting to me than the poem, though I think the latter very respect- 
able as a display of immature talent. — I am, sir, with regard, your 
obliged servant, Walter Scott." 

We ask, is not this epistle, written to an entire stranger, dictated in 
the truest spirit of friendship and kindness? We could heap instance 
upon instance to the same effect, but we would reckon our doing so in 
the spirit of vindication, as something like an insult to the memory of 
the dead. Scott's own modest justification of himself in this respect, 
could be echoed by many a grateful heart. " Let me add," says he, 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 203 

in his introduction to the Lady of the Lake, penned in 1830, " that my 
reign (since Byron has so called it) was marked by some instances of 
good nature as well as patience. I never refused a literary person of 
merit such services in smoothing his way to the public as were in my 
power; and I had the advantage," he adds, "rather an uncommon 
one with our irritable race, to enjoy general favour, without incurring 
permanent ill-will, so far as is known to me, among any of my cotem- 
poraries." 

Now, happily secured, as we have seen him, with a comfortable har- 
bour in his old age, Scott instantly turned his thoughts again to compo- 
sition ; and we can fancy with what fervid delight he looked round and 
found himself at last free to devote the whole faculties of his mind to 
the pursuits of his choice. But, however great his enthusiasm and 
success as a votary of the muses, experience had taught him caution. 
Criticism had not been thrown away upon him: and he resolved to 
bestow more pains upon his future productions. Scott mentioned to a 
friend, at a late period of his life, that after the publication of his first 
two or three works, he was nervously alive to the strictures of the 
reviewers, but that he soon became perfectly indifferent to them, and 
seldom perused a criticism on his writings during the long period of 
his voluminous authorship. Meanwhile, as a sort of interlude to his 
weightier contemplations, he collected his minor poems and ballads, and 
published them, in 1806, in a small volume. The collection consisted 
of his " Helen and William," and the " Wild Huntsman," with those he 
had written for Mr. Lewis's " Tales of Wonder," all of which we have 
before noticed at sufficient length. After the fame he had obtained by 
the " Lay," the republication of these juvenile poems could only be 
justified by the inducements held out to him to do so by the booksellers, 
to whom popularity, however deserved, is at all times a more welcome 
commodity than unknown merit. They now opened upon the scent.of 
the young author's rising fame with the eagerness of the wild Jager 
himself, and in the same year actually brought out a fine-paper edition 
of his whole poems in five volumes. It was, of course, to the popularity 
of the " Lay," that this adventure owed its success, which was consider- 
able ; the minor poems only doing the service of the weights attached to 
the tail of a kite. In the new edition of his poetical works, we observe 
that the editor has added to these earlier productions several poems, 
some of which were written many years afterwards, and appeared in 
various periodicals of the day; others, to which no date whatever is 
attached. The principle upon which these latter pieces appear to have 
been selected, is the convenience of their size : an arrangement of which 
we cannot help questioning the propriety. One of the chief points of 
interest connected with our subject, is the gradual development of the 



204 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

author's powers, — an investigation which such indifference to chronolo- 
gical order unavoidably confuses. The poet of 1796 was a very dif- 
ferent being from the poet of 1820, and we are rather surprised that a 
sentiment expressed in one of these minor poems just published as if 
connected with the era of 1806, — and which, at whatever period written, 
certainly does its author little credit, — did not instruct the learned editor 
respecting the impropriety of the proceeding : — 

" Though April his temples may wreathe with the vine, 

Its tendrils in infancy curl'd, 
'TJs the ardour of August matures us the wine 

Whose life-blood enlivens tlie world." 

" Marmion" was the next production of Scott's muse. It appeared in 
1808, and its success far exceeded that of the " Lay." The world had 
already felt the power of the author, and, despite the captiousness of 
criticism, were prepared to welcome a second effort. Like his previous 
poem, " Marmion" consists of six cantos ; but instead of the prologues 
and epilogues of the old minstrel, each canto is introduced by an episode 
in the form of a familiar epistle to a friend. The names of the gentle- 
men thus distinguished deserve to be mentioned. These were, William 
Stewart Rose, Esq., the Rev. John Marriot, M. A.; William Erskine 
Esq.; (afterwards Lord Kinneder;) James Skene, Esq. ; George Ellis, 
Esq., the celebrated antiquary; and Richard Heber, Esq.* These 
epistles were all dated from Ashiesteel, and the author speaks of the 
period of their composition as being a peculiarly happy one; "so much 
so," he says in 1830, "that I remember with pleasure at this moment 
some of the spots in which particular passages were composed." In 
these epistles, " I alluded," he continues, " perhaps more than was 
necessary or graceful, to my domestic occupations and amusements — a 
loquacity which may be excused by those who remember that ' out of 
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.' " 

We have heard an anecdote connected with this period of his life, re- 
lated by a lady, which, if not of much general interest, is at least illus- 

* Whilst writing, we observe in the newspapers an announcement of the death 
of the eminent bibliophilist. The literary stores which he had collected were 
altogether unprecedented. His residence in Pimlico, London, where he died, was 
filled with books from top to bottom — every chair, every table, every passage 
containing piles of books. He had another house in Broadway, laden from the 
ground floor to the garret, with curious books. He had also a library at Oxford, 
another at Hodnet, an immense one at Paris, another at Antwerp, another at 
Brussels, another at Ghent, and at other places in the low countries and in 
Germany. It has been calculated by a London journalist, that should these 
extensive possessions be sold by auction, the sale would, on the most moderate 
calculation, occupy 3G5 days ! 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 205 

trative of the character of the poet at that time. She had been residing 
along with other visiters with the family at Ashiesteel for some days, 
and had fixed a certain allernoon on which to take her departure. The 
day, however, turned out so cold, rainy, and boisterous, as to deter her 
from setting out. The evening — it was the month of November — drew 
on, drizzly and gloomily, and despite the appliances of music and cards, 
a feeling of dreary sadness, sympathetic with the atmosphere without, 
gradually stole over the company within. Scott was not amongst them 
— he was shut up in his study, and, as afterwards appeared, busily en- 
gaged with "Marmion." Upon coming in to tea, he perceived how 
matters stood with his guests, and as nothing gave him more uneasiness 
than to gee any one unhappy around him, he made a strong exertion — 
invited them into his forge, as he playfully termed it, and having ar- 
ranged them comfortably round the fire, proceeded to pour out upon 
them such a store of wild legendary tales and traditions, in the most 
rapid succession, that his auditory sat entranced around him till far on 
in the night. The lady we allude to declared, that a night of such agi- 
tating interest — such alternate terror and delight — she never passed. 
It was like a night of the "Decameron." This is the only instance we 
ever heard of, where Scott broke through his rigid rule of exclusion from 
his studio, in favour of strangers. 

We have noticed his determination to bestow more pains on his fu- 
ture works ; and, accordingly, particular passages of Marmion were, as 
he states, " laboured with a good deal of care by one by whom much 
care was seldom bestowed." But his prudent purpose was in a great 
measure defeated, and the publication of the poem was prematurely has- 
tened by a casualty which, if it detracted any thing from the credit of 
his fancy, served to reflect immeasurable honour on the warmth of his 
heart. He thus distantly alludes to the unfortunate circumstance. 

" The misfortunes of a near relation and friend, which happened at 
this time, led me to alter my prudent determination, which had been, to 
use a great precaution in sending this poem into the world ; and made 
it convenient at least, if not absolutely necessary, to hasten its publica- 
tion. The publishers of the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," emboldened 
by the success of that poem, willingly offered a thousand pounds for 
* Marmion.' The transaction being no secret, aflx)rded Lord Byron, 
who was then at general war with all who blacked paper, an opportu- 
nity to include me in his satire, entitled 'English Bards and Scotch 
Reviewers.' I never could conceive how an arrangement between an 
author and his publishers, if satisfactory to the persons concerned, could 
afford matter of censure to any third party. I had taken no unusual 
or ungenerous means of enhancing the value of my merchandise, — I 
had never higgled a moment about the bargain, but accepted at once 



206 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

what I considered the handsome offer of my publishers. These gentle- 
men, at least, were not of opinion that they had been taken advantage 
of in the transaction, which indeed was one of their own framing; on 
the contrary, the sale of the poem was so far beyond their expectation, 
as to induce them to supply the author's cellars with what is always an 
acceptable present to a young Scotish housekeeper, namely, a hogshead 
of excellent claret. 

" The poem was finished in too much haste to allow me an opportu- 
nity of softening down, if not removing, some of its most prominent de- 
fects. The nature of Marmion's guilt, although similar instances were 
found, and might be quoted, as existing in feudal times, was neverthe- 
less not sufficiently peculiar to be indicative of the character of the pe- 
riod, forgery being the crime of a commercial rather than a proud and 
warlike age. This gross defect ought to have been remedied, or pal- 
liated. Yet I suffered the tree to lie as it had fallen. I remember my 
friend. Dr. Leyden, then in the east, wrote me a furious remonstrance 
on the subject. I have, nevertheless, always been of opinion, that cor- 
rections, however necessary, have a bad effect after publication. An 
author is never so decidedly condemned as on his own confession, and 
may long find apologists and partisans, until he gives up his own cause. 
I was not, therefore, inclined to afford matter for censure out of my 
own admissions ; and by good fortune the novelty of the subject, and, 
if I may say so, some force and vivacity of description, were allowed to 
atone for many imperfections. Thus the second experiment on the 
public patience, generally the most perilous, — for the public are then 
most apt to judge with rigour what, in the first instance, they had re- 
ceived perhaps with imprudent generosity, was, in my case, decidedly 
successful." 

We have thought it right to allow Scott to give his own explanation 
of the circumstances connected with the publication of " Marmion," as 
every fault, at least, many of which arose, as he states, from the unex- 
pected haste in which it was brought out, was dwelt upon with relent- 
less severity by some critics of the day. They could not know, it is 
true, the generous motive in which these defects originated or were 
passed over ; but there appears a sort of wanton spirit of vituperation in 
the way in which every thing faulty was pounced upon and mumbled 
over, while many of the chief beauties of the poem were unnoticed. 
We allude in particular to the Edinburgh Review, then in the hey-day 
of its power, and in which the writers did not always remember the 
scriptural precept about meting their castigation by their strength. 
Campbell, Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth, Byron, and others, had all 
been subjected to the inflictions of the critical knout, in some cases with 
an unsparing rigour that savoured fully as much of personal or political 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 207 

vindictiveness as literary acumen ; and it was not to be supposed that a 
victim so worthy of its lash, and who exposed his broad shoulders to 
the infliction with such tempting unguardedness as Scott, would be suf- 
fered to go scatheless. Mr. Jeffrey, moreover, by whom the work was 
reviewed, appeai-s to have conceived no little spite at the poet on ac- 
count of the latter persevering in some peculiarities of composition, 
which the critic had severely censured in the " Lay." The lash, ac- 
cordingly, descended with an energy proportionate to the offence offered 
to so high a judicature — luckily not beyond the victim's powers of en- 
durance. It is worth while pausing a little over these strictures, and 
comparing the opinions expressed in them with those which the public, 
in despite of such high authority, thought proper to adopt. The italics 
are our own. 

After preluding with a string of critical arcana for determining the 
merits of epic composition in general, he proceeds: — 

" For these and for other reasons, we are inclined to suspect, that the 
success of the work now before us will be less brilliant than that of the 
author's former publications, though we are ourselves of opinion, that 
its intrinsic merits are nearly, if not altogether equal ; and that, if it 
had had the fate to be the elder born, it would have inherited as fair a 
portion of renown as has fallen to the lot of its predecessors. It is a 
good deal longer, indeed, and somewhat more ambitious; and it is 
rather clearer, that it has greater faults than that it has greater beau- 
ties, though for our own parts, we are inclined to believe in both propo- 
sitions. It has more flat and tedious passages, and more ostentation of 
historical and antiquarian lore; but it has also greater richness and va- 
riety, both of character and incident ; and if it has less sweetness and 
pathos in the softer passages, it has certainly more vehemence and force 
of coloui'ing in the loftier and busier representations of action and emo- 
tion. The place of the prologuising minstrel is but ill supplied, indeed, 
by the epistolary dissertations which are prefixed to each book of the 
present poem ; and the ballad pieces and mere episodes which it con- 
tains, have less finish and poetical beauty; but there is more airiness 
and spirit in the higher delineations ; and the story, if not more skil- 
fully conducted, is at least better complicated, and extended through a 
wider field of adventure. The characteristics of both, however, are evi- 
dently the same ; a broken narrative — a redundancy of minute descrip- 
tion — bursts of unequal and energetic poetry — and a general tone of 
spirit and animation, unchecked by timidity or affectation, and unchas- 
tised by any great delicacy of taste, or elegance of fancy." 

The petulant spirit of assumption, and almost of ridicule, in which 
most of these remarks concerning one of the noblest poems tliat ever 
enriched literature are dictated, must surely have cost the learned critic 



208 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

many subsequent pangs of shame and regret. But what follows, is a 
still higher flight of judicial arrogance: — 

" But though we think this last romance of Scott's about as good as 
the former, and allow that it affords great indications of poetical talent, 
we must remind our readers, that we never entertained much partiality 
for this sort of composition, and ventured on a former occasion to ex- 
press our regret, that an author endowed with such talents should con- 
sume them in imitations of obsolete extravagance, and in the represen- 
tation of manners and sentiments in which none of his readers can be 
supposed to take much interest, except the few who can judge of their 
exactness. To write a modern romance of chivalry, seems to he much 
such a phantasy as to build a modern abbey, or an English pagoda* 
For once, however, it may be excused as a pretty caprice of genius; 
but a second production of the same sort is entitled to less indulgence, 
and imposes a sort of duty to drive the author from so idle a task, by 
a fair exposition of the faults which are, in a manner, inseparable from 
its execution." 

In pursuance of this doughty resolution, for which the world and the 
poet ought to have been about equally grateful, the reviewer proceeds 
to assault the poem in five different quarters at once. In the first place 
he says, that "there is scarcely matter enough in the main story for a 
ballad of ordinary dimensions." In the second place, "the denouement 
is brought out in a very obscure, laborious, and imperfect manner;" 
"the leading incidents fatigue instead of exciting the curiosity" of the 
reader ; and " all the images" of one of the scenes " are borrowed from 
the novels of Mrs. Ratcliffe and her imitators." In the third place, 
" the whole story seems to turn upon a tissue of incredible accidents." 
Foui'thly, the "figuring characters" are "entirely worthless:" and, 
finally, complaint is made of " the neglect of Scotish feelings and Scot- 
ish character that is manifested throughout." 

So much for the imputed faults of the fable : to the style, the reviewer 
objects a bead-roll of blemishes scarcely less numerous and fatal. In 
particular, he complains of the " unsufferable minuteness of those de- 
scriptions of ancient dresses and manners," which " render so many 
notes necessary." " We object to these and all such details, because 
they are, for the most part, without dignity or interest in themselves; 
because, in a modern author, they are evidently unnatural ; and, in a 
good degree, obscure and unintelligible to ordinary readers." 

We certainly will not be presumptuous enough to measure swords 
with the learned critic; but we cannot help remarking, that the amount 

* The poet, curiously enough, seems to have subsequently attempted to realise 
this "phantasy" in his mansion of Abbotsford. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 209 

of praise which he doles out to sweeten the asperity of his strictures, is, 
in our opinion, excessively meagre, if not in many places absolutely 
equivocal. His warmest expressions of approbation are " lively," " spi- 
rited," " sweet," and so forth ; and to only one passage — the description 
of the battle — he accords the term of "powerful poetry." His com- 
plaint about the minuteness of Scott's descriptive passages is certainly 
an extraordinary one, as from these, it has been generally imagined, 
the poem derives the greater share of that vividness of interest, that 
power of carrying back the mind of the reader to the scenes of former 
days, which we humbly reckon one of its principal attractions. 

With regard, again, to what is said of the neglect of Scotish feelings 
and Scotish character — a charge which the poet must have winced 
under more acutely than any other — what grounds are there for the 
allegation? The story is not intended to be a Scotish one, and those 
transactions which are made to take place in Scotland are mere ad- 
juncts, if we may so call them, to the main plot. It may be questioned, 
indeed, if the poet did not allow his feelings of nationality, of which no 
man had a larger portion, to carry him into digressions therewith con- 
nected, injurious to the interest of the main story. But whilst the scenes 
are within the bounds of his native land, there is " Scotland" glowing in 
every line; and this power of impi-essing a national stamp on all his 
scenes and characters, we may observe, is one of the most prominent 
and fascinating peculiarities of Scott's genius, and pervades alike his 
poems and prose works. Allan Cunningham tells us, that soon after 
the publication of "Ivanhoe," Chantrey asked him one day how he 
liked it. " I said the descriptions were admirable, and that the narra- 
tive flowed on in a full stream, but I thought in individual portraiture it 
was not equal to those romances where the author had his foot on Scot- 
ish ground." "You speak like a Scotsman," said Chantrey; "I must 
speak like an Englishman: — the scenery is just, and the characters in 
keeping. I know every inch of ground where the tournament was held 
— where Front de Boeuf's castle stood, and even where that pious priest, 
the Curtal Friar, had his cell by the blessed well of St. Dunstan — what 
Rob Roy is to you, Ivanhoe is to me." It was in this power of na- 
tionalising all his scenes and charactei-s, we repeat, that Scott's great 
strength lay. With respect to his display of it in " Marmion," we con- 
ceive nothing can be more thoroughly, more graphically Scotish than 
the scene which the hero surveys from Blackford Hill — the Scotish 
army encamped in the Borough-muir — the smoky outline of the town 
— the Firth of Forth — the Fife coast — North Benvick Law, and the 
distant Ochils : — 

" Still on the spot Lord Marmion staid, 
For fairer scene he ne'er surveyed. 
2d 



210 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

When sated with the martial show 
That peopled all the plain below, 
The wandering eye could o'er it go, 
And mark the distant city glow 
With gloomy splendour red; 
For on the smoke-wreaths, huge and slow, 
That round her sable turrets flow, 
The morning beams were shed, 
And tinged them with a lustre proud. 
Like that which streaks a thunder-cloud. 
Such dusky grandeur clothed the height, 
Where the huge castle holds its state, 

And all the steep slope down. 
Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky. 
Piled deep and massy, close and high. 

Mine own romantic town ! 
But northward far, with purer blaze. 
On Ochil mountains fell the rays, 
And as each heathy top they kissed, 
It gleamed a purple amethyst. 
Yonder the shores of Fife you saw. 
Here Preston-Bay and Berwick-Law ; 

And, broad between them rolled. 
The gallant Firth the eye might note. 
Whose islands on its bosom float 
Like emeralds chased in gold ; 
Fitz-Eustace' heart felt closely pent, — 
As if to give his rapture vent, 
The spur he to his charger lent, 

And raised his bridle-hand. 
And making demi-volte in air, 
Cried, ' Where's the coward that would not dare 
To fight for such a land !' " 

There is surely nothing like " indifference to Scotish feeling" in these 
lines. As regards "Scotish character" again, we have certainly no 
Andrew Fairservices, or Dandie Dinmonts, or Bailie Nicol Jarvies in 
the poem, as these would have been somewhat awkward personages in 
a tale of chivalry. But are not the portraitures of Sir David Lindsay 
of the Mount, and old Bell-the-Cat, and King James himself, and the 
descriptions of the motley hosts who composed his army, in strict keep- 
ing with history, and the character of the times ? 

After all, it need scarcely be observed, that no poem of the length 
and character of Marmion could be composed either without many de- 
fects, or at least parts comparatively destitute of interest ; and to lay 
hold of these latter passages, and analyze them according to the rigid 
classical rules of the ars poetica, in preference to others of a more en- 
gaging character, seems to us the very wantonness of critical license. 
The many great and undeniable beauties of the poem, moreover — the 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 211 

originality of conception — the splendour of diction — the patriotic senti- 
ments displayed in it, ought, in our opinion, to have conciliated the fa- 
vour of national criticism at least ; and we cannot but think that the 
expression of a little more gratulation at the appearance of so great a 
national poem, and a little less testy impatience of its faults, would have 
been more becoming on the part of the reviewer. But there are certain 
moods of the mind, in which a man finds a morbid satisfaction in dis- 
puting the correctness of judgment of the whole "varsal world," and in 
one of these bilious fits Mr. Jeffrey's criticism appears to have been 
penned. Besides, the Edinburgh reviewers were at this time, as Scott 
says of Byron, " at war with all who blacked paper ;" and to testify a 
sympathy with popular feeling in literary matters, would have been en- 
tirely " out of keeping." 

There is a story current concerning the above memorable criticism, 
which, although we cannot attest its truth, yet, from the length of time 
during which it has passed uncontradicted, so far as we know, we 
reckon ourselves entitled to record in this place. It is said that after 
the article was in type, Jeffrey carried the proof-sheet in his pocket to 
Scott's house, and after sitting down at dinner with his friend, laid the 
review before him. Scott glanced over the sheets, nodding his head 
now and then good-humouredly, and saying, "Very well — very well," 
when Mrs. Scott, whom the courteous manner of her husband had not 
deceived, snatched them from his hand as he was returning them to the 
critic, and after running over the article, exclaimed with a glowing face 
as she threw it from her, — " 1 wonder at the hardihood which penned 
such a criticism, and more at the boldness of bringing it to this table." 
The poet, it is said, took no notice of this observation, and the critic, it 
may be believed, had little wish to provoke farther comment. 

The public had little fellow-feeling with the Edinburgh Reviewers. 
They were not to be whipped out of their admiration of these " imita- 
tions of obsolete extravagance." Marmion rose at once into greater 
popularity than even his previous poem. " The return of sales before 
me," says the author in 1830, "makes the copies amount to thirty-six 
thousand between 1805 and 1825, besides a considerable sale since that 
period." Scott long afterwards mentioned to a friend, that the only 
period of his life when he was in danger of becoming vain, was on the 
publication of Marmion. "That work," he said, "had given him a 
great heeze in the public estimation, and carried him almost off his feet" 
— but he resisted the impulse, and it fled from him for ever. 

The description of the battle of Flodden Field seems to be almost uni- 
versally acknowledged as the most completely soul-engrossing of any 
similar scene that occurs either in ancient or modern song. The reader 
perceives the hosts gathering together from all points to the "banquet 



212 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

of slaughter," with a feeling of awful interest in the result ; and from 
the beginning to the end of the conflict, he feels himself absolutely in- 
volved in all the fearful alternations of the struggle. "The whirlwind 
of action," says Mr. Cunningham finely, " and the varied vicissitudes of 
a heady and desperate fight, are there — yet not one word is said incon- 
sistent with history ; he has imposed his own ideal scene upon us for 
the reality of truth. From the moment that Surrey passes the river, 
till the close of the catastrophe, the reader has no command over him- 
self, but is hurried here and there at the will of the enchanter. He 
charges with Home and with Gordon; snatches with the fiery Blount 
the banner of Marmion from the ground ; aids Fitz-Eustace in bearing 
his wounded lord from the press of Scotish spears ; charges with Stan- 
ley ; changes sides, and, spear in hand, makes good the desperate ring 
which protected the wounded king of Scotland. There is a spell upon 
the reader. Every character and scene is invested with something so 
natural and national, so original and so peculiar, while the whole is 
emblazoned with Scotland — Scotland; the rough-bearded thistle and 
the warning Latin legend represent her no better." 

Scott possessed the true secret of the art of depicting battles. His 
notions on this subject will at once be perceived by the following little 
anecdote, which is told us by the industrious Mr. Chambers. Whilst 
sitting to Mr. Watson Gordon for his picture, not long before the close 
of his life, he was shown a small painting by that distinguished artist, 
representing a battle. " This is not the thing at all," said he, in refer- 
ence to the clearness and multitude of the figures; " when you want to 
paint a battle, you should in the first place get up a gude stour [cloud 
of dust] ; then just put in an arm and a sword here and there, and leave 
all the rest to the spectator." 

After the publication of " Marmion," " Flodden Field" became again, 
after the lapse of centuries, an object of immediate general interest to 
the inhabitants of the sister kingdoms. Crowds of pilgrims flocked to 
the site of that fatal combat, to ponder over the scene where 

" The flowers of the forest were a' wede away," — 

to seek out the exact spot where " the last words of Marmion" were 
shouted forth ; and to listen in imagination for the renewed thundering 
of the mortal strife. An amusing enough anecdote is connected with 
this reawakened enthusiasm in the public mind towards that memorable 
spot, for which we are also indebted to Mr. Chambers, who had it from 
a friend to whom Scott personally communicated it. We give it in the 
poet's own words. " When Marmion came out, it made a considerable 
noise, and had its day, no doubt ; and many people went to see Flodden 
Field ; so that an honest fellow thought it would be a good speculation to 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 213 

§et up a public-house upon the spot, for the accommodation of the visiters : 
and he sent to me, asking me to write a few lines for a sign he was 
going to erect, thinking, as his letter told me, that any thing from me 
would have a good effect. I sent him back word, that I was at present 
a good deal occupied ; but begged to suggest, as a next best, a quotation 
from the book which had occasioned his undertaking, which, I remarked, 
would do very well with a slight alteration — taking out the letter r — 

" ' Drink, weary pilgrim, drink and p(r)ay.' "* 

Before quitting " Marmion," we must shortly advert to Scott's allu- 
sion in the introduction to the new edition of his poems, to the attack 
made upon him by Byron, regarding the sale of that work to the pub- 
lishers. The circumstance of £1000 having been given for a modern 
poem, was certainly a novelty in literature ; and Miss Seward, among 
others, spoke of it at the time in terms of suitable astonishment. But 
the transaction was assuredly as legitimate a one as the disposal of 
Milton's great poem for £12, or Cowper's for £15, whatever undue dis- 
crepancy there might be between the respective merits and prices of the 
three works. Times had altered as regarded the public estimatioa of 
literary talent, and Scott had the undisputed possession of the public 
attention ; and in these two circumstances consist the " head and front 
of his offending" in the matter. No one can be silly enough to suppose, 
that Milton or Cowper would have reckoned themselves, or been reck- 
oned by others, degraded, had they received £1000, instead of £12 or 
£15, for their productions. We are rather inclined to suppose they 
would have pocketed such an affront with great complaisance, and that 
posterity would by no means have thought the less of them either as 
men or poets for having done so. 

But it is only what is due to the memory of Scott, to record a fact 
respecting the pecuniary arrangements of his literary concerns, which 
is, perhaps, even more rare in the annals of authorship, than his uncom- 
mon success. It is, that the terms of recompense had always to be 
proposed by the bookseller himself. "j" He did not, like the majority of 
his literary brethren before and since, go the round of the publishing 
shops, offering his talents to the highest bidder. On the contrary, until 
an offer was made to him, he would say nothing whatever on the sub- 

* " Drink, weary pilgrim, drink and pray 
For the kind soul of Sybil Grey, 

Who built this cross and well." ViHe Canto IV. 

t It must be understood that we do not here allude to his subsequent inter- 
course with Mr. Constable, posterior to the publication of " Waverley." That 
connection will form a separate subject of investigation by itself. 



214 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

ject; but after it was made, he was almost sure to close with it at once, 
and without higgling. 

But Byron's affected contempt of Scott's imputed mercenary dealings 
with the " trade," was merely a pretence assumed as a feasible excuse 
for dealing him a blew. It was Scott's well known intimacy with 
Jeffrey, Brougham, and the other champions of the " Blue and Yellow," 
and not his concerns with Messrs. Longman and Constable, which pro- 
cured him the distinction of the noble Bard's invective. The occasion 
of the latter's wrath with the Edinburgh Reviewers has been so long 
well known, that it is only necessary to glance shortly at the affair. 

During his residence at Cambridge University, and when scarcely 
twenty years of age, Byron published a volume of minor poems, entitled 
" Hours of Idleness." Of these effusions it is unnecessary to say more, 
than that while they gave little indication of that powerful genius which 
afterwards rose on the world with the splendour, if not with something 
of the terrors, of a meteor, they nevertheless exhibited proof of no mean 
poetic talent, as the popularity of several of them at the present day 
sufficiently evinces. That many of them were somewhat ambitious in 
their style, it is true ; but there was certainly none of that extravagant 
pretence either in language or sentiment, which, in the opinion of the 
world, renders the aspirant a fair object of rebuke and correction. Un- 
fortunately, however, as it afterwards turned out, he published the 
volume as being the production of " A Minor;" and although, we dare 
say, it will be allowed that there Avas nothing very heinous in this 
implied claim to nobility, yet it seems to have been almost the only 
motive for a most merciless stricture on his effusions, that shortly after- 
wards appeared in the Edinburgh Review. We are unwilling, for many 
reasons, to dwell upon this criticism, in which, to use the moderate lan- 
guage of Scott in speaking of it afterwards, the writer " yielded to that 
sin which most readily besets our fraternity, the temptation, namely, of 
showing our own wit, and entertaining our readers with a lively article, 
without much respect to the feelings of the author, or even to indications 
of merit which the work may exhibit." The review was read, and 
raised mirth ; the poems were neglected ; and the critic had the conso- 
lation of thinking that he had fairly annihilated the hopes and ambition 
of a titled author.* 

Never was there a greater miscalculation ; and never, since the days 

* Byron, it is said, never knew who was tlic author of this criticism; nor does 
it appear that actual certainty yet generally prevails on this subject. Public 
belief, however, and we have reason to think with justness, now assigns it to the 
present Lord Chancellor Brougham. Jeffrey, it is stated, refused to give up the 
name of the writer, unless in a personal interview with the noble bard — which 
never took place. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 215 

of Pope, did a retaliation so severe and unexpected, fall from the pen of 
irritated poet. The effect of the criticism upon him is described to have 
been fearful. " A friend, who found him," says Moore, " in the first 
moments of excitement after reading the article, enquired anxiously 
whether he had received a challenge? not knowing how else to account 
for the fierce defiance of his looks." It would, indeed, be difficult for 
sculptor or painter to imagine a subject of more fearful beauty than the 
fine countenance of the young poet exhibited in the collected energy of 
that crisis. His pride had been wounded to the quick — his ambition 
humbled: — but this feeling of humiliation lasted but for a moment. The 
very reaction of his spirit against aggression roused him to a full con- 
sciousness of his own powers, and the pain and shame of the injury was 
forgotten in the proud certainty of revenge. Byron himself mentions, 
that on this eventful day he drank three bottles of claret after dinner ; 
but that he could find relief from nothing but rhyme, and, after com- 
posing about twenty lines, " he felt himself considerably better." 

In the satire to which Byron gave birth, his revenge was not confined 
to the writer of the remarks which had so fearfully stirred his gall. 
Almost every author or critic of the period, and even several individuals 
little connected with literature, felt the severity of his lash. But it was 
upon the devoted heads of the Edinburgh Reviewers that the tempest of 
his wrath expended its bitterest fury ; and his Hnes upon the editor him- 
self, however unjustly and injuriously personal, afford, perhaps, the 
raciest specimen of poignant and searching sarcasm penned in modern 
times. Our reasons for passing them by here, need not be explained. 
What Byron's motive was for attacking Scott, we are at a loss to ima- 
gine ; unless it be that he was led to suspect the latter of a connivance 
with the injurious criticism on his own writings in the Review. As 
these two illustrious men are now no more, and full and satisfactory 
explanation was exchanged betwixt them on the subject during their 
lives, we do not think ourselves guilty of any injustice to the memory 
of either in here quoting a few of the angry couplets. After ridiculing 
the principal characters in Scott's two larger poems, the noble bard 
continues : 

And think'st thou, Scott ! in vain conceit perchance, 

On public taste to foist thy stale romance, 

Though Murray with his Miller* may combine 

To yield thy muse just half-a-crown per line ?t 

* " The poem," said the indignant bard, " was manufactured for Messrs. Con- 
stable, Murray and Miller, for a sum of money, and truly, considering the inspi- 
ration, it is a very creditable production." It is almost needless to remark, that 
all this is absurd. 

t We believe this calculation is rather under than over the mark. Byron's 
curiosity must have been great indeed, to induce him to such an investigation. 



216 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

No! when the sons of song descend to trade, 
Their bays are sear, their former laurels fade. 
Let such forego the poet's sacred name. 
Who rack their brains for lucre, not for fame ! 
Low may they sink to merited contempt, 
And scorn remunerate the mean attempt ! 
Such be their meed ; such still the just reward 
Of prostituted muse and hireling bard ! 
For this we spurn Apollo's venal son, 
And bid a long " good night to Marmion!" 

But Byron's notice of Scott in this satire, was not altogether in the 
vituperative vein, either. The following lines, which occur towards the 
conclusion, in part atone for the bitter invective of those just quoted, 
and show that their author, even in the whirlwind of his wrath, was as 
capable of appreciating, as candid in acknowledging, the great powers 
of his brother poet. After re-enumerating, in the language of derision 
or reproach, the names of almost all the great poets then before the 
British public, as men from whose pens it was in vain to expect any 
thing worthy of the muse, he returns to Scott in the following mingled 
strain of eulogy and reproach : — 

" But thou, with powers that mock the aid of praise, 

Should'st leave to humbler bards ignoble lays ; 

Thy country's voice, the voice of all the nine, 

Demand a hallow d harp — that harp is thine. 

Say, will not Caledonia's annals yield 

The glorious record of some nobler field 

Than the vile foray of a plundering clan. 

Whose proudest deeds disgrace the name of man.'' 

Or Marmion's acts of darkness, fitter food 

For outlaw'd Sherwood's tales of Robin Hood .'' 

Scotland ! still proudly claim thy native bard, 

And be thy praise his first, his best reward ! 

Yet not with thee alone his name should live, 

But own the vast renown a world can give; 

Be known, perchance, when Albion is no more, 

And tell the tale of what she was before ; 

To future times her faded fame recall, 

And save her glory, though his country fall!" 

Few circumstances ever took place in the literary world, which oc- 
casioned, in fashionable phraseology, so great a " sensation" as the ap- 
pearance of the " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." It bore evi- 
dence of such a vigour of intellect and command of diction, that the 
public hailed it, despite all its improper personalities, as the production 
of a wonderful genius, — the more wonderful from the extreme youth of 
the author, who was just then in his twenty-first year. The contemp- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 217 

tuous derision of the critic was fairly turned against himself in the pub- 
lic estimation ; whilst from those, whom his ill-judged effusion had drawn 
in to be partakers of his punishment, it was not to be expected he would 
receive much sympathy. But although this production must unques- 
tionably be considered as the first stepping-stone to Byron's literary 
eminence, there is no true friend of the noble poet's memory, but must 
wish that it had never been penned. We have, at least, ample evidence 
of the poignant regret it afterwards caused himself; for, notwithstanding 
the impetuousness of his unregulated passions, there was never a human 
being, perhaps, more utterly free from every thing akin to vindictiveness 
or malevolence than the unhappy " Childe." He was, indeed, one of 
those who are too much alive to their own faults and imperfections, to 
nourish a permanent feeling of enmity with their fellow-mortals; and 
severely as his errors have been judged by the world, he still found the 
most unrelenting censor in his own bosom. 

The first edition of the satire, which was published anonymously, 
was sold off in a few months. To the second, the author's name was 
prefixed, and he immediately afterwards went abroad. Upon its ar- 
riving at the fifth edition, Byron wrote home in anxious terms to have it 
suppressed, and every exertion was made to put the work out of exist- 
ence. In a copy of it, belonging to Mr. Murray, his publisher, which 
the author happened to peruse after he had lefi; England, in 1816, never 
to return, were afterwards found sufficient proofs of repentance for this 
ebullition of youthful resentment. On the first leaf of it was written — 
" The binding of this volume is considerably too valuable for the con- 
tents. Nothing but the consideration of its being the property of ano- 
ther, prevents me from consigning this miserable record of misplaced 
anger, and indiscriminate acrimony, to the fames. B." — Throughout 
the pages were scribbled, opposite to almost all the passages satirising 
the various characters introduced, expressions of regret and self con- 
demnation, — such as "savage," "mere insanity," &c. ; and he con- 
cludes his confessional with the following remark : — " The greater part 
of this satire I most sincerely wish had never been written ; not only on 
account of much of the critical, and some of the personal parts of it, 
but the tone and temper are such as I cannot approve." 

It was not until after Lord Byron's return from abroad, in 1812, that 
any direct intercourse took place betwixt him and Scott: and the ac- 
count given by the latter of the abridged and interrupted term of their 
correspondence, is so redolent of amiable feeling, that it becomes im- 
perative on us, in our task of developing the qualities of his mind, to 
give it as nearly as possible in his own words. It is proper we should 
here state that this account is chiefly taken from " Moore's Life of By- 

2 E 



218 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

ron," having been communicated to the noble poet's biographer by 
Scott, during the compilation of that interesting work. 

After alluding to the criticism on Byron's works in the Edinburgh 
Review, and stating that he (Scott) had at the time remonstrated with 
the editor against its admission ; he adverts in terms of characteristic 
gentleness to Byron's unjustifiable out-pouring of bile upon himself; 
speaks of it as merely a piece of flagellation which he suffered in com- 
pany with " his betters," and that Byron had, on the other hand, paid 
him, in the other passages, so much more praise than he deserved, that 
he must have been ridiculously irritable not to sit down contented. He 
then tells us : — 

" I was very much struck, with all the rest of the world, at the vigour 
and force of imagination displayed in the first cantos of Childe Harold, 
and the other splendid productions which Lord Byron flung from him to 
the public, with a promptitude that savoured of profusion. My own 
popularity as a poet was then on the wane, and I was unaffectedly 
pleased to see an author of so much power and energy taking the field. 
Mr. John Murray happened to be in Scotland that season, and as I men- 
tioned to him the pleasure I should have in making Lord Byron's ac- 
quaintance, he had the kindness to mention my wish to his lordship, 
which led to some correspondence." 

Before proceeding farther with Scott's account of this interesting in- 
tercourse, it is requisite that we advert to one or two collateral circum- 
stances. In the first place, we are informed by Mr. Moore, that along 
with the wish expressed through Mr. Murray, for Byron's friendship, 
Scott sent his brother bard a present of a superb Turkish dagger. This 
circumstance, as will be aft;erwards seen, the former notices in a some- 
what confused manner, and seemingly as if it had taken place at a sub- 
sequent period of their acquaintance, when Byron returned the compli- 
ment by a similar testimony of friendship. Again, it does not appear 
from Scott's statement, or any other evidence we can discover, with 
whom the " correspondence" originated. We are inclined to think, 
however, that it was with Scott himself; and this more particularly 
from the date and introductory sentence of the following letter from 
Byron to him ; the other contents of which, moreover, demand a pro- 
minent place in the substance of our present memoir. 

" St. James' Street, July 6, 1812. 
" Sir, — I have just been honoured with your letter. I feel sorry that 
you should have thought it worth while to notice ' the evil works of my 
nonage,' as the thing is suppressed voluntarily, and your explanation is 
too kind not to give me pain. The satire was written when I was very 
young and very angry, and fully bent on displaying my wrath and my 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 219 

wit, and now I am haunted by the ghosts of my wholesale assertions. 
I cannot sufficiently thank you for your praise; and now, waiving my- 
self, let me talk to you of the Prince Regent. He ordered me to be pre- 
sented to him at a ball; and after some sayings, peculiarly pleasing 
from royal lips, as to my own attempts, he talked to me of you and 
your immortalities; he preferred you to every bard past and present, 
and asked which of your works pleased me most. Tt was a difficult 
question. I answered, I thought the ' Lay.'* He said his own opinion 
was nearly similar. In speaking of the others, I told him that I thought 
you more particularly the poet of Princes, as they never appeared more 
fascinating than in ' Marmion,' and the ' Lady of the Lake.' He was 
pleased to coincide, and to dwell on the characters of your Jameses, as 
no less royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of Homer and your- 
self, and seemed well acquainted with both ; so that, with the exception 
of the Turks, and your humble servant, you were in very good company. 
I defy Murray to have exaggerated his royal highness' opinion of your 
powers, nor can I pretend to enumerate all he said on the subject ; but 
it may give you pleasure to hear that it was conveyed in language 
which would only suffer by my attempting to describe it, and with a 
tone and taste which gave me a very high idea of his abilities and ac- 
complishments, which I had hitherto considered as confined to manners, 
certainly superior to those of any living gentleman. 

" This interview was accidental ; I never went to the levee ; for hav- 
ing seen the Courts of Mussulman and Catholic sovereigns, my curiosity 
was sufficiently allayed; and my politics being as perverse as my 
rhymes, I had ' no business there.' To be thus praised by your sove- 
reign, must be gratifying to you ; and if that gratification is not alloyed 
by the communication being made through me, the bearer of it will con- 
sider himself very fortunately and sincerely your obliged and obedient 
servant, Byron." 

Scott's narrative proceeds : — 

" It was in the spring of 1815, that, chancing to be in London, I had 
the advantage of a personal introduction to Lord Byron. Report had 
prepared me to meet a man of peculiar habits, and a quick temper, and 
I had some doubts whether we were likely to suit each other in society. 
I was most agreeably disappointed in this respect. I found Lord Byron 
in the highest degree courteous and even kind. We met for an hour or 
two almost daily, in Mr. Murray's drawing-room, and found a great 



* This interview, it must be kept in mind, was subsequent to the appearance 
of the " Lady of the Lake," and " Don Roderick," the poems that succeeded 
" Marmion." 



220 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

deal to say to each other. We also met frequently in parties and even- 
ing society, so that for about two months I had the advantage of consi- 
derable intimacy with this individual. Our sentiments agreed a good deal, 
except upon the subject of religion and politics, upon neither of which 
I was inclined to believe that Lord Byron entertained very fixed opi- 
nions. I remember saying to him, that I really thought that if he lived 
a few years, he would alter his sentiments. He answered, rather sharp- 
ly, ' I suppose you are one of those who prophecy I will turn metho- 
dist?' I replied, ' No — I don't expect your conversion to be of such an 
ordinary kind. I would rather wish to see you retreat upon the Catholic 
faith, and distinguish yourself by the austerity of your penances. The 
species of religion to which you must, or may, one day attach yourself, 
must exercise a strong power on the imagination.' He smiled gravely, 
and seemed to allow I might be right. 

" On politics he sometimes used to express a high strain of what is 
now called ' liberalism ;' but it appeared to me that the pleasure it af- 
forded him as a vehicle of displaying his wit and satire against individu- 
als in office, was at the bottom of this habit of thinking, rather than any 
real conviction of the principles on which he talked. He was certainly 
proud of his rank and ancient family ; and, in that respect, as much an 
aristocrat as was consistent with good sense and good breeding. Some 
disgusts, how adopted I know not, seemed to me to have given this pe- 
culiar, and, as it appeared to me, contradictory cast of mind ; but at 
heart I would have termed Byron a patrician on principle. 

" Lord Byron's reading did not seem to me to have been very exten- 
sive, either in poetry or history. Having the advantage of him in that 
respect, and possessing a good competent share of such reading as is 
little read, I was sometimes able to put under his eye objects which 
had for him the interest of novelty. I remember, particularly, repeat- 
ing to him the fine poem of Hardyknute, an imitation of the old Scotish 
ballad, with which he was so much affected, that some one in the same 
apartment asked me what I could possibly have been telling Byron, by 
which he was so much agitated. 

" I saw Byron for the last time, in 1815, after I returned from France. 
He dined or lunched with me at Long's in Bond street. I never saw 
him so full of gaiety and good humour, to which the presence of Mr. 
Mathews, the comedian, added not a little. Poor Terry was also pre- 
sent. After one of the gayest parties I was ever present at, my fellow- 
traveller, Mr. Scott of Gala, and I set off for Scotland, and I never saw 
Lord Byron again. Several letters passed between us — one, perhaps, 
every half year. Like the old heroes in Homer, we exchanged gifts. 
I gave Byron a beautiful dagger, mounted with gold, which had been 
the property of the redoubted Elfin Bey. But I was to play the part of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 221 

Diomed in the Iliad, for Byron sent me, some time after, a large sepul- 
chral vase of silver. It yvas full of dead men's bones, and had inscrip- 
tions on two sides of the vase. One ran thus : — ' The bones contained 
in this urn were found in certain ancient sepulchres within the land wall 
of Athens in the month of February, 1811.' The other face bears the 
lines of Juvenal. 

' Expendc — quot libras in duce sunimo invenies, 
— Mors sola fatetur quantula hominum corpuscula.' 

Juv. X. 

To these I added a third inscription in these words: — ' The gift of Lord 
Byron, to Walter Scott.' There was a letter in this vase, more valuable 
to me than the gift itself, from the kindness with which the donor ex- 
pressed himself towards me. I left it naturally in the urn with the 
bones, but it is now missing. As the theft was not of a nature to be 
practised by a mere domestic, I am compelled to suspect the inhospitality 
of some individual of higher station, — most gratuitously exercised cer- 
tainly, since after what I have here said, no one will probably choose to 
boast of possessing this literary curiosity. 

" We had a good deal of laughing, I remember, on what the public 
might be supposed to think or say, concerning the gloomy and ominous 
nature of our mutual gifts. 

" I met him very frequently in society ; our mutual acquaintances 
doing me the honour to think that he liked to meet with me. I was 
considerably older, you will recollect, than my noble friend, and had no 
reason to fear his misconstruing my sentiments towards him ; nor had I 
ever the slightest reason to doubt that they were kindly returned on his 
part. If I had occasion to be mortified by the display of genius which 
threw into the shade such pretensions as I was then supposed to possess, 
I might console myself, that in my own case, the materials of mental 
happiness had been mingled in a greater proportion." 

We have thought it incumbent on us to insert this authentic and most 
interesting account of the friendly intercourse which subsisted between 
the two greatest poetical geniuses, undoubtedly, then living. The cor- 
diality of their friendship is the more pleasing to contemplate, equally 
from the rivalry of their fame, and the fact that no two individuals ever 
existed, perhaps, the constitution of whose minds and tempers, whether 
proceeding from nature, education, or circumstances, were so essentially 
different; the one overflowing with animal hilarity, and enjoying life for 
its own sake; the other cursed with a temperament so diseased, as to 
justify, with mournful truth, the observation of Goethe, — that he was 
inspired with the genius of Pain. 

The friendship of the two poets, after the above period, suffered no 



222 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

interruption save from the distance which divided them. That tliey 
mutually and unaffectedly regarded each other as the greatest poet of 
the day, is evident. We have already seen the terms in which Scott 
speaks of the superior claims of his noble friend to that distinction ; and 
in the posthumously published correspondence and journals of Byron, 
numerous passages occur wherein he unqualifiedly assigns the laurel 
crown to his then untitled rival. One of these is curious enough : " He 
(Scott) is undoubtedly the monarch of Parnassus, and the most English 
of bards. I should place Rogers next in the living list — (I value him 
more as the last of the best school,) Moore and Campbell both thirds — 
Southey, and Wordsworth, and Coleridge, next — the rest, oi zroXXot — 
then follows a figure sketched out in the form of a triangular pyramid, 
divided into different sections for the various classes of poets he has 
enumerated. Upon the very pinnacle is written, " W. Scott;" then fol- 
low the names of the others in the order he has assigned them ; and in 
the section at the base is written, " The Many," — thus including him- 
self, of course, in the last and humblest class of the muse's votaries. 
It must be observed, however, that this self-humiliating allocation was 
made antecedent to the birth of " Childe Harold," which, in the world's 
opinion, and not less in Scott's, raised him at one step from the base to 
the pinnacle of Parnassus, to the dethronement of the former possessor. 
Upon the publication of the third canto of" Childe Harold," in 1816, 
it was criticised in the Quarterly Review, in an article, which, along 
with an animated, — we might say enthusiastic, — exposition of the many 
beauties of that lofty poem, contains an analysis of the mental structure 
and habits of thinking peculiar to the noble poet. The tone of the latter, 
besides being remarkable for its depth of philosophic acuteness, is dic- 
tated in the kindliest spirit of Christian philanthropy. Aware that he is 
dealing with no common mind, that can be laughed or lectured out of 
its fitful moods, the writer, in adverting to the unhappy and misanthropic 
hue of the poet's thoughts, endeavoured, by strong argument and gentle 
reproof, to awaken him to a sense of the unmanliness, the criminality of 
cherishing such continual remembrance of his own miseries — such dero- 
gatory sentiments of human nature — such scepticism concerning the 
existence of worth and friendship, as are expressed throughout his verses ; 
and the morbid delight which he seemed to take in maintaining an im- 
passable gulf, as it were, betwixt himself and society. The arguments 
brought to bear on the subject, are in the highest strain of Christian 
morality. " It is not the temper and talents of the poet," says the 
writer, " but the use to which he puts them, on which his happiness or 
misery is grounded. A powerful and unbridled imagination is the author 
and architect of its own disappointments. Its fascinations, its exagge- 
rated pictures of good and evil, and the mental distress to which they 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 223 

give rise, are the natural and necessary evils attending on that quick 
susceptibility of feeling and fancy, incident to the poetic temperament. 
But the Giver of all talents, while he has qualified them each with its 
separate and peculiar alloy, has endowed the owner with the power of 
purifying and refining them. As if to moderate the arrogance of genius, 
it is justly and wisely made requisite, that the conscious possessor must 
i-egulate and tame the fire of his fancy, and descend from the heights to 
which she exalts him, in order to obtain ease and tranquillity. The 
materials of happiness, that is, of such degree of happiness as is con- 
sistent with our present state, lie round us in profusion, but so low that 
the man of genius must stoop to gather them; and it is just they should 
do so, otherwise they would be beyond the reach of the mass of society, 
for whose benefit, as well as for his, Providence has created them. 
There is no royal and no poetical path to contentment and heart's ease; 
that by which they are attained is open to all classes of mankind, and 
lies within the most limited range of intellect. To narrow our wishes 
and desires within the scope of our powers of attainment; to consider 
our misfortunes, however peculiar in their character, as our inevitable 
share in the patrimony of Adam; to bridle those irritable feelings which, 
ungoverned, are sure to become governors; to shun that intensity of 
galling and self-wounding reflection which our poet has so forcibly 
described in his own burning language ; to stoop, in short, to the reali- 
ties of life; repent if we have offended, and pardon if we have been 
trespassed against : to look on the world less as our foe than as a doubt- 
ful and capricious friend, whose applause we ought, as far as possible, 
to deserve, but neither to court nor contemn ; such seem the most obvious 
and certain means of keeping or regaining mental tranquillity." The 
writer then conjures the moody bard to combat with his own irritated 
feelings ; to submit to that " discipline of the soul enjoined by religion 
and recommended by philosophy," as the only means of attaining the 
full and healthy use of his splendid faculties ; and to believe that those 
who rejoiced in his sufferings, bore but a small proportion to those 
who eagerly longed to see him reconciled to himself and to the world. 
A style of comment like this is somewhat unusual in the pages of 
criticism, where the assailant of the many generally experiences little 
mercy at the hands of those who live by conciliating their favour ; and 
the subject of it must have felt the full force of the exception, in the 
friendly counsel and remonstrance it contained. But, alas ! the disease 
was too deeply rooted to be eradicated by any hand, however kind and 

skilful.— 

" Ho had thought 

Too long and darkly, till his brain became 
In its own eddy, boiling and o'erwrought, 
A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame." 



224 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

It was more than eleven years after the above article appeared, ere 
it was generally known to have proceeded from the pen of Scott, and 
the secret was then only forced from him by the necessity of vindicating 
himself from an invidious charge of having delayed in any way to ac- 
knowledge the supremacy of Byron's mental powers until the grave was 
closed on him.* Whether Byron himself ever knew the quarter whence 
the friendly criticism emanated, we have no means of ascertaining, but 
that he cherished a warm feeling of regard for Scott to the close of his 
life, we have many proofs. In the tenth canto of Don Juan, a poem 
which Scott held to display more versatility of genius than any other 
production since the days of Shakespeare, he takes occasion to record 
his partiality for his friend, in one of his capricious episodes, part of 
which we shall take the liberty of extracting ; not only on that account, 
but as it also includes honourable mention of another name, much more 
obnoxious to him at one time than any other perhaps in the literary 
world, together with a generous acknowledgment of his regret for his 
youthful ebullition of spleen — 

" Old enemies who have become new friends 

Should so continue — 'tis a point of honour, 
And I know nothing which could make amends 

For a return to hatred ; I would shun her 
Like garlic, however she extends 

Her hundred arms and legs, and fain outrun her. 
Old flames, new wives, become our bitterest foes — 
Converted foes should scorn to join with those. 

" The lawyer and the critic but behold 

The baser sides of literature and life, 
And nought remains unseen, but much untold, 

By those who scour those double vales of strife, 
While common men grow ignorantly old. 

The lawyer's brief is like the surgeon's knife, 
Dissecting the whole inside of a question, 
And with it all the process of digestion. 

" A legal broom'st a moral chimney-sweeper, 
And that's the reason he himself 's so dirty; 

* The so termed " tardy acknowledgment," which was made the occasion of 
the accusation, was a most eloquent and affecting tribute to the noble poet's 
memory and genius, which appeared in the Edinburgh Weekly Journal, on the 
intelligence of his death; which event took place at Missolonghi, on the 19th of 
April, 1824, in the 37th year of his age. 

t A question might be raised, whether the poet by this figure did not mean to 
indicate his suspicion as to who the author of the attack on his juvenile poems 
really was. If he had had certainty on the subject, there is little reason to doubt 
he would not have confined himself to distant inuendo, or would have said 
nothing at all — Stat in dubio. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 225 

The endless soot* bestows a tint far deeper 

Than can be hid by altering his shirt, he 
Retains the sable stains of the dark creeper, 

At least some twenty-nine do out of thirty, 
In all their habits, not so you, I own, 
As Caesar wore his robe, you wear your gown. 

" And all our little feuds, at least all mine. 

Dear Jeffrey, once my most redoubted foe, 
(As far as rhyme and criticism combine 

To make such puppets of us things below,) 
Are over; here's a health to 'Auld Lang Syne.' 

I do not know you, and may never know 
Your face — but you have acted on the whole 
Most nobly, and I own it from my soul.t 

" And when I use the phrase of ' Auld Lang Syne,' 
'Tis not address'd to you, the more's the pity 

For me, for I would rather take my wine 

With you than aught (save Scott) in your proud city. 

But somehow — it may seem a schoolboy's whine. 
And yet I seek not to be grand or witty, 

But I am half a Scot by birth, and bred 

A whole one, and my heart flies to my head. 

" And though, as you remember, in a fit 

Of wrath and rhyme, when juvenile and curly, 

I railed at Scots to show my wrath and wit. 

Which, must be owned, was sensitive and surly, 

Yet 'tis in vain such sallies to permit. 

They cannot quench young feelings, fresh and early ; 

I scotched, not kill'd, the Scotsman in my blood. 

And love the land of mountain and of flood." 

We shall take leave of the author of " Childe Harold," in the mean 
time at least, by relating a most remarkable anecdote respecting his 
mother, which, although communicated by Scott to the noble poet's 
biographer, and recorded by him in his interesting work, we feel our- 
selves entitled to transcribe without apology, as a story with which 
many besides Scott himself were long ago familiar. Mrs. Byron, it is 
well known, was a woman of the most vehement passions, and it was 
from her probably that the poet inherited that irritability which caused 
so much uneasiness throughout life both to others and himself. The 
following instance of her giving way to the emotions of the moment, is 
singular from the prophetic feeling which might be supposed to be 

* " Query, suit? Printer's devil." 

t In reviewing Byron's subsequent poems, particularly the "Corsair," Mr. 
Jeff'rey made ample amends — as far as amends could be made — for the strictures 
on the " Hours of Idleness." 

2f 



226 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

expressed In it. After describing the resistless effect which the acting 
of the celebrated Mrs. Siddons had on her Edinburgh audiences, Scott 
says — " I remember Miss Gordon of Gight, in particular, harrowing 
the house by the desperate and wild way in which she shrieked out 
Mrs. Siddons' exclamation in Isabella, ' Oh my Byron ! Oh my Byron !' 
A well known medical gentleman, the benevolent Dr. Alexander Wood,* 
tendered his assistance; but the thick-pressed audience could not for a 
long time make way for the doctor to approach his patient, or the 
patient the physician. The remarkable circumstance was, that the 
lady had not then seen Captain Byron, who, like Sir Toby, made her 
conclude with ' Oh!' as she had begun with it?" 

We must revert to the era of 1808. " Marmion," as we have said, 
was published early in that year; and in the course of a itiw weeks 
thereafter, and when its popularity was just at its height, the world was 
astounded with a fresh proof of the author's prolific and versatile talents, 
by the appearance of the " Works of John Dryden, now first collected 
in eighteen volumes. Illustrated with notes, historical, critical, and ex- 
planatory ; and a Life of the Author. By Walter Scott, Esq." The 
work was published by Mr. Miller of London, price 9/. 9s. 

This commencement of Scott's career, as a prose writer, was not un- 
attended with its risks. Two others — the name of one of whom, at 
least, was enough to scare away every thought of rivalship in his own 
province — were before him with the subject he had chosen to discuss. 
Dr. Johnson, as is well known, had sketched the career of Dryden in 

* The medical gentleman referred to in the text, better remembered in Edin- 
burgh by the name of " Lang Sandy Wood," was no less distinguished for his 
eccentricity than his benevolence. One of his peculiarities was an affected 
severity of disposition, which, however, was continually giving him the slip in 
spite of himself. The effect of Mrs. Siddons' acting upon him, we have heard 
described by those who witnessed it as laughable in the extreme. He could not 
resist the temptation of attending the theatre night after night, during the period 
of her engagement, and the command which she exercised over the feelings of 
all mankind found no exception in him. From the moment she came on the 
stage, indeed, to the conclusion of the piece, he was engaged in a continual and 
uniformly ineffectual struggle to maintain his usual appearance of sardonic indif- 
ference. We have heard an old gentleman, who was present, relate the follow- 
ing amusing anecdote respecting Mr. Wood's demeanour on one of these occa- 
sions. Mrs. Siddons was personating Desdemona, and the performance had 
just come to that affecting scene where Othello strikes her, when Mr. Wood 
discovered that he was actually — crying. Abashed and irritated at being beguiled 
into such a display of feeling, he held down his head, and was overheard thus 
endeavouring to reason himself into composure, as he impatiently dashed away 

the tears from his eyes — " All d d nonsense this — all c d nonsense ! I'm 

sure I know well enough it's all nonsense ! This is just the Edinburgh theatre — 

and I'm Sandy Wood — and she there — why she is just — ^just — ^just — that b h 

Mrs. Siddons!" 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 227 

his "Lives of the Poets," with a copiousness of biography rather un- 
usual with him, and criticised his writings with a vigour and justness 
pecuHarly his own. In addition to this fact, Scott's veneration for John- 
son is known to have been so great, as to cause some surprise that he 
ventured into competition in the same field with him.* After Johnson, 
came Mr. Malone, who, in what he called " Some Account of the Life 
and Writings of John Dryden," had collected, with gossiping minute- 
ness, every fact, great or small, which had the remotest reference to that 
eminent individual. Something, however, yet remained to be done. 
The era in which Dryden flourished was a most peculiar one in British 
literature, and no one had yet attempted to estimate how far the age was 
indebted to the poet, who maintained a decided superiority over all his 
contemporaries, and how far the poet was influenced by the taste and 
manners of the age. The philosophy of the subject, in short, remained 
to be discussed, and to do this was the professed object of Scott's work. 
The " Life of Dryden," furnishes a remarkable proof of Scott's un- 
wearied industry and historical research. He commences with a rapid 
sketch of the state of English poetry, from the accession of James L to 
a period subsequent to the Restoration ; not only canvassing the merits 
of the various poets who flourished during that period, but throwing 
much new and valuable light on the secret state-history of those event- 
ful times. Dryden's poetical career was so inseparably interwoven with 
his political connections, as to render an investigation of the latter de- 
scription absolutely necessary in making up an estimate of his charac- 
ter, — a circumstance equally to be regretted for the sake of the drama- 
tist and his biographer. The former, it is well known, zealously at- 
tached himself, after the Restoration, to the court party. For this he 
was, in the year 1668, rewarded with the appointment of poet-laureat 
and historiographer, with a salary of 200Z. a-year; which, together 
with the profits arising from a lucrative conti'act which he was thereby 
enabled to make with the king's company of players, and other colla- 
teral advantages, brought him an income of at least 600Z. a-year — 
equal in value to three times that sum at present. This comfortable 
provision he continued to enjoy for twenty years — in short, to the period 
of the revolution, when all the sunshine of his prospects vanished. The 

* Of this feeling of veneration for the " Great Moralist," Scott gave nume- 
rous proofs, both in his subsequent works, and in conversation. The following 
instances are told by Mr. Chambers. Being one day in company when the me- 
rits of Johnson and his imitators were discussed, he observed, in reply to a re- 
mark commendatory of some of the latter, — " Aye, aye, many of them produce 
his report, but which of them carries liis bullet?" On another occasion, when 
in company, he took down a volume of Johnson's works, and read from it " The 
Vanity of Human Wishes," in a tone which showed how deeply he felt the 
beauties and acquiesced in the truths of that fine moral poem. 



228 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

unscrupulous nature of his devolion to the fallen party, and above all, 
his apostatising from his own religion to that of the court of James II., 
had forfeited him the esteem of the ascendant whigs, many of the more 
influential of whom were well disposed to befriend and patronise Dry- 
den, even in his " evil days;" and the remainder of his life, which ter- 
minated in 1700, was passed in a continual struggle with poverty — 
which, however, was nobly and manfully borne. It might be thought 
that the large amount of his former income should have enabled him to 
lay aside a comfortable provision against his old age, and that he did 
not do so seems the more curious, as he has no where been accused of 
personal extravagance. There is reason to suppose, however, that the 
expense of educating and maintaining his three sons, which he seems to 
have done upon a scale better suited to their maternal descent* than his 
own resources, is to be assigned as the cause. 

Dryden's attachment to his benefactors was no more than was na- 
tural, and, although servile, there is every reason to believe it was sin- 
cere. In fact, his gratitude seems to have been one of the chief excel- 
lences of his private character. A virtuous enthusiasm, however, has 
often been manifested in a very questionable cause; and whatever may 
be said, in other cases, in favour of a political creed such as Dryden pro- 
fessed, assuredly the profligate court of Charles II. can hardly be reck- 
oned a very worthy subject of adulation. It was injudicious, there- 
fore, in Scott, to testify so strong an anxiety as he did to justify Dry- 
den's political predilections, a course which has frequently led him into 
something like panegyric in the first person, towards the unworthy ob- 
jects of his author's praise. 

But with the exception just stated, and somewhat too much prolixity 
of quotation, perhaps, explanatory of the mean and disreputable squab- 
bles between the dramatist and his literary compeers, this biography of 
Dryden is in the highest degree creditable to Scott's talents. The Edin- 
burgh Reviewers — the great literary dictators of the day — with that con- 
sistency which so frequently gives to the efforts of periodical criticism a 
character resembling the task of Penelope — now seemed to have forgot- 
ten all they had advanced in condemnation of " Marmion," and ex- 
pressed the most lively regret that Scott should have undertaken a task 
so unworthy of the great genius he had formerly evinced, and which 
could not as they alleged, " add one sprig to the wreath which he wore 
as the author of those poems, 

' Of which all Britain rang from side to side.' " 

* Dryden was married to lady Elizabeth Howard, eldest daugliter of the Earl 
of Berkshire. He himself was descended from a very ancient family of North- 
amptonshire. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 229 

In one sense this opinion was right; but in the way in which it was 
meant, we conceive it to have been altogether wrong. The work gave 
evidence, if it did nothing else, of the author's versatility, and unremit- 
ting industry, of mind. But it did more ; it presented him in a new 
and important character to the world, and one for which, considering 
what had been known of the desultory and interrupted nature of his 
early studies, not even his intimate friends were prepared to give him 
credit — that, namely, of an accomplished and erudite scholar. In addi- 
tion to an intimate familiarity with the literature of Europe, ancient and 
modern, it displayed no common acquaintance with the early classics, 
together with a nice appreciation of their beauties. It exhibited, more- 
over, a freedom and breadth of diction, and a power of critical discri- 
mination, that would have raised the reputation even of the Edinburgh 
Review itself. Altogether, considering Scott's unquestioned supremacy 
as a poet at the time, we hold that the production of such a work as his 
" Life of Dryden," gave a weight and importance to his name, which 
the production even of another " Lay," or another " Marmion," could 
not then have attached to it. It is too often the fault of successful ima- 
ginative writers (although in Mr. Southey we have one splendid excep- 
tion, at least, at the present day) to confine themselves exclusively to the 
exercise of that one talent, — thus suggesting the idea of a limitation of 
faculties, which never fails to detract much from the author's importance 
in the public estimation. Scott showed that he could descend, without 
discredit to his fame, from the region of romance, and grapple with the 
things of this nether world ; that he had an eye for the earth, as well as 
one for the clouds, — that his judgment was as strong as his fancy, — 
that he was capable of instructing as well as amusing mankind. Such 
versatility of talent, however, was, it must be allowed, somewhat rai'e 
at the above period : nor was it yet generally admitted that a poet could 
have any legitimate business beyond the bounds of Parnassus. 

The " Life of Dryden," from the bulky and expensive form in which 
it was brought out, made little impression on the public at the time, nor, 
although a reprint was called for a few years afterwards, does it yet 
seem to have been very generally read. This circumstance would only 
have inclined us to dwell the longer upon it, with the view of making 
the world better acquainted with its merits and defects, did our limits 
permit us. This, however, cannot be ; and we must confine ourselves 
to a quotation of the passage alluding to the dispute concerning the com- 
position of the famous " Ode to St. Cecilia" — now better known, per- 
haps, by the name of " Alexander's Feast." 

Of this composition, which Dryden himself afterwards asserted, and 
we suspect with prophetic truth, to be the best ode that ever was, or ever 
will be, written, one account states that he took a fortnight to write it; 



230 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

another story runs, that Lord BoHngbroke happening to pay Dryden a 
morning visit, found him pacing up and down his room with a disorder- 
ed step — his eyes inflamed — his cheek flushed; in short, with all the 
symptoms of his being under the influence of the divinus afflatus. 
Upon enquiring into the cause of his agitation, Dryden answered — " I 
have been up all night; my musical friends made me promise to write 
them an ode for their feast of St. Cecilia : I have been so struck with the 
subject which occurred to me, that I could not leave it till I had com- 
pleted it; here it is, finished at one sitting." And the old bard* there- 
upon showed him the ode freshly penned. " These diiferent accounts," 
observes Scott, " are not so contradictory as they may at first sight ap- 
pear. It is possible that Dryden may have completed, at one sitting, 
the whole ode, and yet have employed a fortnight, or much more, in the 
corrections. There is strong internal evidence to show that the poem 
was, speaking with reference to its general structure, wrought off at 
once. A halt, or pause, even of a day, would perhaps have injured that 
continuous flow of poetical language and description, which argues the 
whole scene to have arisen at once upon the author's imagination. It 
seems possible, more especially in lyrical poetry, to discover where the 
author has paused for any length of time; for the union of the parts is 
rarely so perfect as not to show a different strain of thought and feel- 
ing. There may be something fanciful, however, in this reasoning, 
which I therefore abandon to the reader's mercy, only begging him to 
observe, that we have no mode of estimating the exertions of a quality 
so capricious as a poetic imagination ; so that it is very possible that the 
ode to St. Cecilia may have been the work of twenty-four hours, whilst 
corrections and emendations, perhaps of no very great consequence, oc- 
cupied the author as many days." 

The reader will perceive at a glance the justness and acuteness of 
these remarks. They demonstrate, too, the advantage of a poet being 
a poet's biographer. 

In the same year (1808) Scott was engaged by Mr. Murray, book- 
seller, London, to arrange for publication the posthumous productions of 
the celebrated artist and antiquary, Joseph Strutt, Esq. Amongst these 
was an unfinished romance, entitled, " Queen Hoo Hall," the scene of 
which was laid in the reign of Henry VI., and the work intended to 
illustrate the manners, customs, and language of the people of England 
during that period. Scott deemed it his duty, in his capacity of editor? 
to finish the work, and accordingly added a concluding chapter. This 
was his second, or at most, his third attempt at fictitious prose composi- 

* He was then in his G6th year. He was born on 9th August, 1631 ; and died 
May 1st, 1700. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 231 

tion, and gave him hope, he says, that he might in time become free of 
the craft of romance writing. The work, however, was not very suc- 
cessful — a fact that may perhaps be accounted for by the too liberal 
display of antiquarian knowledge by the original projector of it. 

In the year succeeding the publication of the " Life of Dryden," that 
is, in 1809, there appeared the " State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph 
Sadler," with a Memoir of his Life, and Historical Notes, in two quarto 
volumes. This publication was the joint production of Arthur Clifford, 
Esq. and the subject of our narrative. The part contributed by the lat- 
ter were the Memoir and Notes. 

Sadler was Secretary of State to Henry VIIL, and amongst his other 
duties, was frequently employed by that prince as ambassador to the 
Scotish court to manage the various amicable negotiations set on foot, 
almost always unsuccessfully, between the two kingdoms. The letters 
and other documents relating to these missions, one of which was with a 
view to negotiate a marriage, by betrothment, between Prince Edward 
of England and the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, form the principal and 
much the most interesting part of the work ; and it would be difficult to 
speak too highly of the curious nature of the greater part of the contents. 
But in the papers themselves lies the chief value of the publication. It 
might have been expected, from Scott's almost universal knowledge of 
Scotish history, that with such a store of rich materials in his hands, 
applicable to one of its most interesting periods, he would have given to 
the world an essay replete at once with the most vivid interest, and of the 
last importance in a historical point of view. Considerable disappoint- 
ment, however, must needs be felt in these respects, upon an examina- 
tion of the work. Scott has suffered his antiquarian predilections to 
obscure his sense of the dignity and importance of history ; and although 
he brings forward much that is curious with his usual ingenuity, he 
adds little to the value of the original documents. There is palpable 
evidence, moreover, of the work having been huddled up either with 
great haste or great negligence. Still it is one which will richly repay 
an examination ; and in fact, without a perusal of it, it is impossible for 
any one to form a clear unbiassed opinion of the state policy and inter- 
nal transactions of the two nations during the long period — embracing 
nearly half a century — over which the circumstances treated of are 
scattered. The papers relating to the unfortunate Queen Mary, of 
whom Sadler, after her ill-advised flight to England, was one of the 
" keepers," and also one of the commissioners appointed to sit in judg- 
ment on her — as he had curiously enough, more than forty years before, 
done his utmost to have her selected as his sovereign — are particularly 
interesting. Sadler seems to have exerted himself most creditably to 
mitigate the rigorous severity of his royal charge's captivity in many 



232 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

respects; and considering his acknowledged honesty of narrative, to- 
gether with his zealous devotion to his mistress, Elizabeth, we attribute 
in a great measure the general diversity of opinion which even yet pre- 
vails respecting the relative character and conduct of the two queens, to 
a want of acquaintance with the posthumous testimony of this illustrious 
statesman. 

In the same year (1809) Scott lent his assistance in editing a work 
similar in character to that of Sadler's papers, namely, Lord Somers' 
important collection of tracts, which were afterwards published in thir- 
teen volumes royal quarto. But it would be a task much beyond the 
limits of this memoir, to enter into an exposition of the character of 
these invaluable historical documents. 

We have now to notice the next great effort of Scott's muse, " The 
Lady of the Lake," which appeared early in 1810; and we reckon it 
proper again to allow him to introduce his own production as nearly as 
possible in his own words : — * 

" The poems of Ossian," says he, " had, by their popularity, suffi- 
ciently shown, that if writings on Highland subjects were qualified to 
interest the reader, mere national prejudices were, in the present day, 
very unlikely to interfere with their success. I had also read a great deal, 
and heard more, concerning that romantic country, where I was in the 
habit of spending some time every autumn ; and the scenery of Loch 
Katrine was connected with the recollection of many a dear friend, and 
merry expedition of former days. This poem, the action of which lay 
among scenes so beautiful, and so deeply imprinted on my recollection, 
was a labour of love, and it was no less so to recall the manners and 
incidents introduced. 

" I may now confess, however, that the employment, though attended 
with great pleasure, was not without its doubts and anxieties. A lady 
to whom I was nearly related, and with whom I lived, during her 
whole life, on the most brotherly terms of affection, was residing with 
me at the time when the work was in progress, and used to ask me 
what I could possibly do to rise so early in the morning. At last I told 
her the subject of my meditations; and I can never forget the anxiety 
and affection expressed in her reply. ' Do not be so rash,' she said, 
'my dearest cousin. You are already popular — more so, perhaps, 
than you yourself will believe, or than even I, or other partial friends, 
can fairly allow to your merit. You stand high — do not rashly attempt 
to climb higher, and incur the risk of a fall; for, depend upon it, a 
favourite will not even be permitted to stumble with impunity.' I 
replied to this affectionate expostulation in the words of Montrose, — 

'■ Introduction to " Lady of the Lake,' written in 1830. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 233 

' He either fears his fate too much, 

Or his deserts are small, 
Who dares not put it to the touch, 

To gain or lose it all.' 

' If I fail,' I said, for the dialogue is strong in my recollection, ' it is a 
sign that I ought never to have succeeded, and I will write prose for life ; 
you shall see no change in my temper, nor will I eat a single meal the 
worse. But if I succeed, — 

' Up with the bonnie blue bonnet, 
The dirk and the feather and a' !' 

" Afterwards, I showed my affectionate and anxious critic the first 
canto of my poem, which reconciled her to my imprudence. * * 

" I remember that about the same time, a friend started in to ' heeze 
up my hope,' like the minstrel in the old song. He was bred a farmer, 
but a man of powerful understanding, natural good taste, and warm 
poetical feeling, perfectly competent to supply the wants of an imperfect 
or irregular education. He was a passionate admirer of field sports, 
which we often pursued together.* As this friend happened to dine 
with me at Ashiesteel one day, I took the opportunity of reading to him 
the first canto of ' The Lady of the Lake,' in order to ascertain the 
effect the poem was likely to produce upon a person who was but too 
favourable a representation of readers at large. Flis reception of my 
recitation, or prelection, was rather singular. He placed his hand across 
his brow, and listened with great attention through the whole account 
of the stag-hunt, till the dogs threw themselves into the lake to follow 
their master, who embarks with Ellen Douglas. He then started up 
with a sudden exclamation, struck his hand on the table, and declared 
in a voice of censure calculated for the occasion, that the dogs must 
have been totally ruined by being permitted to take the water after such 
a severe chase. f I own I was much encouraged by the species of 

* We believe the individual here mentioned was Mr. Archibald Park, brother 
of the celebrated traveller. 

t A curious instance of a nature similar to this — the power, namely, of an 
author over the imagination of his readers, was lately told, as an authenticated 
fact, by the learned Sir John Herschel, in his opening address to the subscribers 
of the Windsor and Eton Public Library, of which that eminent man is president. 
The blacksmith of a village in Northamptonshire (we think) had got hold of 
Richardson's novel of " Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded," and used to read it aloud 
in the long summer evenings seated on his anvil, and never failed to have a large 
and attentive audience. It is a pretty long winded book; but their patience 
was fully a match for the author's prolixity, and they fairly listened through it 
all. At length, when the happy turn of fortune .arrived which brings the hero 
and heroine together, and sets them living long and happily, the congregation 

2g 



234 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

reverie which had possessed so zealous a follower of the sports of the 
ancient Nimrod, who had been completely surprised out of all doubts 
of the reality of the tale." The same friend, however, made a discovery, 
he says, which rather annoyed him — namely, the identity of King 
James with the Knight of Snowdoun ; and he afterwards endeavoured 
to efface, as far as possible, all traces by which the secret might be 
detected by others. 

Scott says, he took uncommon pains to verify the accuracy of the 
local circumstances of this story, and even went on a special mission 
into Perthshire, to see whether King James could actually have ridden 
from the banks of Loch Vennachar to Stirling Castle within the time 
supposed in the poem, and had the pleasure to satisfy himself that it 
was quite practicable. 

The poem was finished in the latter end of 1809, but its appearance 
was delayed till June in the following year. Its success, says the au- 
thor himself, was so extraordinary, as to induce him for the moment to 
conclude that he had at last " fixed a nail in the proverbially inconstant 
wheel of fortune, whose stability in behalf of an individual who had so 
boldly courted her favour for three successive times, had not as yet 
been shaken." Scott seems, at the same time, to have thought it ne- 
cessary — a proceeding which every one else, we believe, reckoned a 
very unnecessary one — to enter into a justification of himself, for again 
intruding his compositions on the public, besides running the risk of in- 
curring the captious displeasure of the critics, and through their means 
losing his already pre-eminent popularity. On the latter subject, how- 
ever, he had long before made up his mind. " If a man is determined," 
says he, in his own peculiar style of facetious humour, " to make a 
noise in the world, he is as sure to encounter abuse and ridicule, as he 
who gallops furiously through a village must reckon on being followed 
by the curs in full cry. Experienced persons know, that in stretching 
to flog the latter, the rider is very apt to catch a bad fall, nor is an at- 
tempt to chastise a malignant critic attended with less danger to the 
author. On this principle, I let parody, burlesque, and squibs, find 
their own level ; and while the latter hissed most fiercely, I was cau- 
tious never to catch them up as schoolboys do, to throw them back 
against the naughty boy who fired them off"; wisely remembering, that 
they are in such cases apt to explode in the handling." Scott, how- 
ever, had little now to fear from the critics. The judgment, or fancy, 
if any please to term it so, of the public, w'as so unanimous in his fa- 



was so delighted that they raised a great shout; and having got hold of the keys 
of the church, actually rung a merry peal on the parish bells, to testify their joy 
at the event. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 235 

vour, that those disposed to carp at him were compelled to yield to the 
current. Even those who had previously laboured most anxiously, al- 
though no doubt with the most friendly intention, to discover and expose 
the errors and defects of his genius — like the philosophers who, while 
the other inhabitants of the earth content themselves with delightedly 
and thankfully enjoying the blessed light of the noonday sun, employ 
themselves anxiously in pointing out the specks and spots that dim his 
surface — became now the loudest in his approbation. As O'Connell 
once said of himself, in reference to an extraordinary sudden change in 
his opinions on a certain political question, " they came to the task of 
panegyric with all the fervour of converted renegades." 

Like its two great predecessors, the " Lady of the Lake" is divided 
into six cantos, the time of action in each occupying the space of a day. 
The scene is laid chiefly in the vicinity of Loch Katrine, in the Western 
Highlands of Perthshire, where there is commingled more of the beau- 
tiful and the sublime than is to be found in any locality, perhaps, within 
the shores of the "land of the mountain and the flood." In this respect 
it was incalculably better suited than the scenery in which the plots of 
his previous poems were laid, for the display of the author's unrivalled 
powers of description ; and there is an individuality, a minuteness, yet 
freedom and breadth of portraiture throughout, which we believe is no 
where to be paralleled, unless upon the canvass. And this holds good, 
no less with respect to the living characters he introduces, than with the 
rocks, ravines, and torrents which he in a manner exhibits to the eye. 
It seems to be generally thought that this is the highest finished and 
most equally sustained of all Scott's larger poems ; and although the 
fascinating novelty of the tartans and the heather, the mountain and the 
lake, which no doubt contributed powerfully to its unprecedented popu- 
larity at the time of publication, be long since past away, we are not 
sure if it will not continue to be the most universally read and admired 
by posterity. 

We have seen that Scott was not inclined to confine his literary la- 
bours merely to the regions of poetry and romance; and, in fact, he 
himself somewhere says, that about the period of the publication of the 
" Lady of the Lake," he " agnized a natural and prompt alacrity" to the 
duties of " Editor and Commentator," and felt strongly tempted to take 
them up to the exclusion of more weighty and serious occupations. 
About this time, indeed, he was in the habit of contributing to the Edin- 
burgh and the Quarterly Reviews. Amongst his articles in the former, 
was an elaborate criticism on the Life and Writings of Chaucer ; also 
reviews of Godwin's and Maturin's works, &c. For the last twenty 
years of his life, however, it is said he seldom saw this periodical ; but 
he became a regular contributor to the Quarterly after the accession of 



236 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

his son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart, to the editorship of that work in 1824. 
But the chief cause of this temporary disposition to abandon the flowery 
but perilous paths of fiction, arose from the following circumstance. 
Our readers will recollect our account of Scott's early acquaintance 
with Messrs. James and John Ballantyne, whom we left at Kelso, the 
former engaged as a printer and editor of the Kelso Mail, while the 
latter acted as his clerk. Shortly after the publication of the second 
edition of the "Minstrelsy of the Scotish Border," in 1803, the two 
brothers migrated to Edinburgh, where they set up a printing establish- 
ment. This step they took, we believe, at the recommendation of their 
early friend, if not mainly assisted by him with the means of com- 
mencing business. At least we understand he had a sort of silent part- 
nership along with them from the first, although no regular contract of 
copartnery was ever executed. As the establishment was commenced 
on a somewhat extensive scale, considerable capital was necessary to 
carry it on, and this was raised, according to what we can learn, chiefly 
by means of cash credit with the banks, and drawing bills on each other. 
This appears to have been the period of Scott's first acquaintance with 
that deceptive system of conducting business, the consequences of which 
he ultimately experienced to so lamentable a degree, and which we will 
aft;erwards have to speak of more at large. The firm of Ballantyne 
and Co., however, continued to prosper; and about the year 1808 or 
1809, a new concern was started, by John Ballantyne commencing bu- 
siness as a bookseller, with Scott as a partner. This new partnership 
was on the same loose and hollow basis as the other, no contract being 
drawn up betwixt the parties, and the capital being raised by a similar 
process. From all we can learn, we are led to surmise that the new 
copartnery was projected chiefly upon the credit of Scott's literary abi- 
lities. He was then in the zenith of his fame ; immense sums had been 
given by the other publishers for his works ; still more splendid of- 
fers were no doubt held out to him for the further productions of his ge- 
nius ; and it seems far from improbable that the idea of engrossing the 
profits at once of author, printer and publisher, suggested itself, or was 
suggested by others, to his mind. Accordingly, the first work publish- 
ed by John Ballantyne and Co. being also printed by James Ballantyne 
and Co., was the " Lady of the Lake," for the authorship of which we 
have been informed the nominal sum of 3000Z. was placed to Scott's 
credit in the books of the former. His subsequent poems, the " Vision 
of Don Roderick," " Rokeby," " Lord of the Isles," &c., were pub- 
lished by the same firm. A new work, upon rather a novel plan, was 
also started by them, being a general historical and critical compendium 
of the politics and literature for the year, under the title of the " An- 
nual Register." The editorship of this new undertaking was entrusted 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 237 

to Mr. Southey ; but besides contributing largely, Scott had the princi- 
pal local management of it. The first volume, referring to the year 
1808, was published early in 1810, in two parts. Scott's contributions 
to this part were disapproved by Mr. Southey, and he very patiently sat 
down and re-wrote the whole of the matter. The work was remark- 
ably popular, and contiiuied so during the period of its existence, but 
was ultimately stopped in 1817. 

This publishing scheme prospered amazingly, and would have proved 
a highly lucrative one to the parties, had it been conducted either with 
care or economy ; but the system of extravagance and overtrading that 
was pursued was more than a match for whatever prosperity might at- 
tend it, and it was found prudent to dissolve the copartnery in 1813.* 
Scott is said to have drawn huge sums in name of copyright value for 
his works, which were paid in bills. These, of course, had again to be 
met when they became due, with other bills, and the affairs of the par- 
ties at length got into a state of entanglement and confusion, which no- 
thing but the skill and experience of a man of business were able to un- 
ravel. Ultimately, however, the debts of the firm were all, in some 
manner or other, paid, and the copyrights were resumed by Scott. Mr. 
Ballantyne had, during the continuance of the firm, projected another 
large work, to be entitled Ballantyne's Novelists Library, for which 
Scott wrote a number of biographical and critical sketches, as prefaces 
to the collection. This work was carried on for some time after Mr. 
Ballantyne's death, by Messrs. Hui'st and Robinson of London, but was 
latterly suspended; and the pieces were finally published in a collected 
form, in the year 1827. Amongst these sketches were Memoirs of Ri- 
chardson, Fielding, Smollett, Cumberland, Goldsmith, Johnson, Sterne, 
Mackenzie, Walpole, and various other celebrated characters. They 
are all written in a pleasing and animated, but somewhat hasty and su- 
perficial manner. Another small hebdomadal publication, after the 
manner of Addison's " Spectator," was likewise started by Mr. Ballan- 
tyne in January, 1817, called the "Sale-Room," to which Scott contri- 
buted a few essays ; but it was stopped in July, the same year, for want 
of support. Mr. Ballantyne, who subsequently became an auctioneer, 
died in 1821. 

In the same year in which appeared the " Lady of the Lake," Scott 
arranged and edited the poems of Miss Anna Seward, in three volumes, 
to which was prefixed an elegant memoir of her life. This task was 
undertaken at the particular desire of the authoress herself, betwixt 
whom and Scott a friendship of the strongest kind subsisted. That 

* It was immediately upon the dissolution of this concern that Scott's more 
lasting connection with Mr. Constable commenced. 



238 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

amiable and talented woman expired on the 23d March, 1809, in the 
sixty-second year of her age ; and the letter bequeathing to her friend 
the grateful but melancholy duty he so ably executed, was penned on 
her death-bed, and in fact within a few days of her decease. The great 
bulk of her correspondence, however, was left to Mr. Constable, who 
afterwards published it. 

We had intended to conclude this chapter with a notice of Scott's next 
poetical work, the " Vision of Don Roderick," but as the date of the 
publication of that poem may be regarded as the commencement of a 
distinct epoch both in the poet's literary character and situation in life, 
we think it will be a more suitable distribution of our matter to place it 
under a new head. 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM THE PUBLICATION OF " VISION OF DON RODERICK" IN 1811, TO 
THE PUBLICATION OF " WAVERLEy" IN 1814. MIDDLE LIFE. 

Our narrative must now assume a very different character from what 
it has hitherto borne. Up to the period at which we have arrived, our 
task has been the pleasing one of tracing Scott's triumphant ascent 
from the base to the summit of Parnassus, and contemplating the vari- 
ous achievements by which he vindicated his continued right to the po- 
etic sceptre. But the Parnassian sovereignty is a perilous one, and of 
the successive occupants of that aerial throne it may be said, by a tri- 
fling alteration of the words of Goldsmith, 

" A breath unmakes them as a breath doth make." 

One of the changes incidental to this peculiar system of popular eleva- 
tion Scott was now about to experience, and as we have attended him 
during the brilliant period of his success, so we must also follow him in 
his descent from his place of eminence. In most cases, this would be 
any thing but a cheering duty, but in the present instance it is more like 
attending a conqueror who gracefully yields up to a newer and more 
favoured rival a sceptre, held but by popular toleration, to take posses- 
sion of a more extensive dominion, founded by himself, and where his 
supremacy was doomed, it would seem, to be permanent. 

Scott still held, however, undisputed possession of the laurel crown, 
when, in the year 1811, he brought out his "Vision of Don Roderick." 
This poem was of an entirely different character, both as to subject and 
versification, from any of his previous productions. It is in the Spen- 
serian measure, and professes to give a sort of shadowy historical out- 
line of the state of Spain, from a period previous to the invasion of the 
Moors, to the close of the peninsular war in 1810. Its main object, 
however, is to commemorate the successes of British arms during the 
latter, and the achievements of Wellington, Beresford and other com- 
manders in the campaign. The poem is penned in a high-flown strain 
of sentiment throughout ; and although there is undoubtedly much fine 
poetry and many lofty conceptions in it, the work was more adapted to 
the public enthusiasm of the moment, than the cool judgment of poste- 



240 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

rity.* The author himself, if we are not much mistaken, afterwards 
adopted a similar opinion with ourselves, respecting this poem: and we 
are the more inclined to suppose this from the fact, that in his recently 
penned prefaces to his poems, he makes no mention whatever of the 
" Vision of Don Roderick," although he alludes at considerable length 
to " Rokeby" and others that followed it, all of which were received 
with much greater disfavour by the public. 

Several smaller poems were appended to the larger one when it was 
published ; and, although the sale of the volume was nothing like that 
of its predecessors, and its after-popularity still less so, it was on the 
whole well received at the time, and reached a second edition in a few 
weeks. We must not here omit to state, that Scott devoted the profits 
of the volume to the relief of the then suffering inhabitants of Portu- 
gal. 

Two years elapsed after the publication of the above poem ere its au- 
thor again obtruded his muse on the public attention, during which pe- 
riod he was engaged in certain domestic arrangements to which we will 
have immediately to refer. His next effort appeared in 1813, under the 
name of " Rokeby," being a tale of the civil war in England, in which 
he attempted to interest the feelings of his readers in the transactions of 
that period. 

" If subject and scenery," says the author, " could have influenced 
the fate of a poem, that of ' Rokeby' should have been eminently dis- 
tinguished ; for the grounds belonged to a dear friend, with whom I had 
lived in habits of intimacy for many years, and the place itselff united 
the romantic beauties of the wilds of Scotland with the rich and smiling 
aspect of the southern portion of the island. But the Cavaliers and 
Roundheads whom I attempted to summon up to tenant this beautiful re- 
gion, had for the public neither the novelty nor the peculiar interest of 
the primitive Highlanders. This, perhaps, was scarcely to be expected, 
considering that the general mind sympathises readily and at once with 
the stamp which Nature herself has affixed upon the manners of a peo- 

* His allusions to Bonaparte especially are, to use a popular Scotish phrase, 
" out of all character." — For example — 

" From a rude isle his ruder Uncage came : 

The spark that, from a suburb hovel's hearth 
Ascending, wraps some capital in flame. 

Hath not a meaner or more sordid birth; 
And for the soul that bade him waste the earth — 

The sable land-flood from some swamp obscure. 
That poisons the glad husband-field with dearth, 

And by destruction bids its fame endure, 
Hath not a source more sullen, stagnant, and impure.'" 
t Rokeby Hall, Northumberland. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 241 

pie living in a simple and patriarchal state ; whereas it has more diffi- 
culty in understanding or interesting itself in manners which are founded 
upon those peculiar habits of thinking which are produced by the pro- 
gress of society." 

This is unquestionably true, and the subject, it must be confessed, was 
an unfortunate one, considering the peculiar bent of the author's genius. 
His muse was the muse of romance, and his attempt, accordingly, to 
throw her spells over the dry matter-of-fact details of comparatively re- 
cent history, was, as might have been anticipated, a failure. But there 
were many more reasons for his want of success in this poem besides 
his unhappy selection of a plot. The public were beginning to weary 
of the sort of hand-gallop style of versification in which it was written. 
The uncommon popularity of his three great poems, and the apparent 
facility of the measure, had raised up a host of copyists, of whom it is 
almost needless to say, that the majority produced rather burlesques than 
imitations of the original. People had, accordingly, become nauseated 
with this eternal jingling in the same key, and the school, as it had be- 
gun to be termed, was naturally falling into disrepute. This feeling of 
disgust was soon converted into that of ridicule by the fry of parodists, 
who are ever on the watch for opportunities of putting the public in good 
humour with themselves at the expense of their literary rivals. A clever 
satirical burlesque, under the title of " Jokeby," appeared, which told 
severely against the original poem, and was, we believe, much the more 
popular of the two.* But there was a still more formidable cause for 
the discomfiture of " Rokeby" than either of those yet mentioned. 
Byron had taken the field with his " Childe Harold," and all eyes were 
now turned towards this newly-arisen meteor, with feelings of wonder, 
approaching almost to awe. Scott at once felt and confessed the blight- 
ing influence of this rival luminary. " I was astonished," he says, 
" at the power evinced by that work, which neither the ' Hours of Idle- 
ness,' nor the ' English Bards and Scotch Reviewers' had prepared me 
to expect from its author. There was a depth in his thought, an eager 
abundance in his diction, which argued full confidence in the inexhaust- 
ible resources of which he felt himself possessed ; and there was some 
appearance of that labour of the file, which indicates that the author is 

* Scott displayed his habitual good temper and equanimity on the publication 
of this clever production, and laughed at it as heartily as any one. Soon after 
its appearance, a Galashiels manufacturer, who knew Scott, carried the cele- 
brated publisher, Mr. Tegg,to Abbotsford, and introduced him as the author of 
" Jokeby," Mr. T. having jocularly stated himself to be so. " The more jokes 
the better," was Scott's reply, setting a chair for his supposed parodist; and im- 
mediately entered into conversation on general topics with his usual urbanity. 

2 H 



242 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

convinced of the necessity of doing every justice to his work, that it 
may pass warrant." # * * " There would have been 

little wisdom in measuring my force with so formidable an antagonist, 
and I was as likely to tire of playing second fiddle, as my audience of 
hearing me." It must, in addition to all this, be remembered that Scott 
had now reached that time of life, when the poetic feeling begins to cool, 
and the human heart ceases to own those emotions which constitute so 
principal an ingredient in the temperament of the muse's successful vo- 
taries. 

Upon the whole, " Rokeby" was generally reckoned, in jockey 
phrase, a decided break down, (although Scott tells us that 1500 copies 
were sold at the time,) and the star of its author began from that hour 
to " pale its ineffectual ray" in the public estimation, although perhaps 
not more from its own declination, than the ascendant brilliancy of its 
competitor. But he had too long held possession of the field to be 
driven from it by a single discomfiture. He retreated to his favourite 
Highlands, planted his foot once more on the heather, and although con- 
scious that he was striving against wind and tide, he resolved to make a 
last and vigorous effort, to redeem the tarnished honour of the muse of 
Caledonia. The subject which he selected for this purpose — the achieve- 
ments of Bruce — was one calculated, in the last degree, to catch the 
feelings and rouse the patriotic ardour of his countrymen; and had the 
poem founded on it, instead of the " Vision of Don Roderick," followed 
the " Lady of the Lake" in due course, we question if it would not, 
although no doubt undeservedly, have commanded a more extensive 
temporary popularity than any of its predecessors. Be that as it may, 
the "Lord of the Isles," (which appeared in 1814,) although, as the 
author says, concluded unwillingly and in haste, and under the painful 
feeling of one who has a task to perform, rather than with the ardour 
of one who endeavours to perform that task well, enjoyed a sale of 
15,000 copies, and enabled Scott, to use his own language, to retreat 
from the field with the honours of war. 

In the same year, Scott published anonymously, a little metrical ro- 
mantic tale of the Italian school of composition, entitled the " Bridal of 
Triermain." This was done, he says, at the express request of his 
friend, William Erskine, (Lord Kinneder,) but on the condition that the 
latter would make no effort to disown the authorship, should it ever be 
laid to his charge. Scott accordingly contrived to throw into the poem 
several passages in keeping with his friend's feeling and manner, and as 
the latter professed a taste for poetical composition, the production was 
at once attributed to him. In this manner two large editions were 
sold off", but upon a third being called for, Erskine declined to carry 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 243 

on the deception any longer, and Scott's name was accordingly pre- 
fixed.* 

We ought now, in conformity with the chronological arrangement 
which we consider so imperative in a work of biography to pui'sue, and 
which we have endeavoured to observe hitherto, to bid adieu to Scott in 
his poetical character for a while; but as none of the subsequent poems 
to which he gave birth can be said to have made, comparatively speak- 
ing, any deep impression on the public, and as we are unwiUing to have 
the consecutiveness of our notices of his prose works interrupted by the 
necessity of turning aside to advert to the minor efforts of his muse, we 
shall here enumerate the latter in as summary a manner as propriety 
seems to us to admit of. 

In 1815, immediately after the battle of Waterloo, Scott, at the sug- 
gestion of his publisher, Mr. Constable, passed over to the continent, and 
visited the scene of that memorable engagement. The result of this 
journey was a lively prose volume, to be afterwards noticed, together 
with a poem of some length, in commemoration of the great event, both 
of which came out the same year. The latter production, entitled 
" Waterloo," has always been reckoned the most unworthy of all Scott's 
poetical efforts, nor did it enjoy the slightest popularity, even when men's 
minds were most disposed to receive any attempt to celebrate that splen- 
did triumph of British valour with favour, if not with avidity. Proba- 
bly the public expected too much ; but without joining in the unqualified 
condemnation generally passed upon it, we must confess that the poem 
is far from being worthy of the subject. Nor is this at all surprising, 
as we understand it was written at the several stages where the author 
halted during his journey, whence the manuscript was despatched to 
Edinburgh, and the whole published with scarcely a word of emenda- 
tion. 

In the following year, 1816, he published another small unacknow- 
ledged poem, called " Harold the Dauntless," in the style of the rude 
minstrel, or Scald. It encoui:itered, he says, rather an odd fate. " My 
ingenious friend, Mr. James Hogg, had published about the same time, 
a work called the ' Poetic Mirror,' containing imitations of the principal 
living poets. There was in it a very good imitation of my own style, 
which bore such a resemblance to ' Harold the Dauntless,' that there 

* Mr. Chambers states, upon respectable authority, that the reason of Scott's 
publishing this poem and " Harold the Dauntless" anonymously, was in conse- 
quence of the proprietor of the scene of " Rokeby" jocularly twitting him with 
the observation, " that his books sold merely because his name was put upon the 
title page," — a remark which Scott felt not a little indignant at, and avowed he 
would put to the proof forthwith. This story seems rather inconsistent with 
Scott's own account of the matter. 



244 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

was no discovering the original from the imitation ; and I believe that 
many who took the trouble of thinking on the subject, were rather of 
opinion that my ingenious friend* was the true, and not the fictitious 
Simon Pure." 

Respecting the character of the last-named poem and the " Bridal of 
Triermain" — which both belong to the same " order" of poetry — we 
need say but little. They contain most of the imperfections, and not a 
few of the best traits of their author's genius. They seem each to have 
been dashed off, as it were, at a sitting, and from tliis reason bear such 
indubitable marks of their parentage, that it seems surprising, at this 
time of day, how any doubt could ever have been entertained on that 
subject. The number of fictitious Simon Pures, as Scott says, that 
were then abroad, may however account for the mistake. 

From 1816 to 1820, Scott did not present himself again to the world 
in his poetical character. In the latter year, he published a small volume 
of fugitive pieces, under the capricious title of " Trivial Poems and Trio- 
lets, by P. Carey," of which it is unnecessary further to speak. 

In 1822, appeared a dramatic sketch from his pen, called " Halidon 
Hill." It was not intended for the stage, but we are rather surprised 
that no attempt has ever been made to bring it out as a drama. It is 
perhaps rather brief for representation, but the incidents are decidedly 
national, and the characters drawn with fervour and animation. One of 
the principal personages brought forward is an ancestor of the poet, of 
the Swinton family. The poem was well received at the time of its 
appearance, and it is said that he received 2000/. from his publisher, 
Mr. Constable, for the copyright. 

The remaining productions of Scott's muse that fall to be mentioned, 
seemed little, if at all known. These are " M'Duff's Cross," a short 
dramatic poem, which was written for a Miscellany, published in 1823, 
by Mrs. Joanna Baillie: " The Doom of Devorgoil," and " Auchindrane 
or the Ayrshire Tragedy"- — productions of a similar character with the 
former, but of much greater length, which were published in one volume 
in 1830. 

Having now concluded our notice of the poetical productions of our 
author, it may be expected that we should attempt an estimate of his 
powers in that department, both individually and comparatively. This 
would be a task at once easy and pleasing to us : but besides our having 
already dwelt at considerable length in most of the productions on which 
his reputation was founded, such an essay, to be complete or satisfactory, 

* Hogg states, in the memoir of his life, that the author of this perfect imita- 
tion was not himself, but his friend Mr. Thomas Pringle; a statement which 
Scott seems to have overlooked. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 245 

would necessarily lead us into a field of discussion far too extensive for 
the space that is now left to us for the consideration of his other works. 
Instead, therefore, of entering oil so wide a topic ourselves, at this 
advanced stage of our memoir, we will substitute a few sentences on the 
subject from a criticism which appeared in the " Edinburgh Review" 
upon the publication of the " Lady of the Lake," which seems to us, on 
the whole, to contain, in the most concise form, the justest estimate of 
Scott's genius, as a poet, which has yet fallen under our notice.* 

" In the choice of his subjects," says the critic, " he does not attempt 
to interest merely by fine observation or pathetic sentiment, but takes 
the assistance of a story, and enlists the reader's curiosity among his 
motives for attention. Then his characters are all selected from the 
most common dramatis persona of poetry. Kings, warriors, knights, 
outlaws, nuns, minstrels, secluded damsels, wizards, and true lovers. 
He never ventures to carry us into the cottage of the peasant, like 
Crabbe, or Cowper ; nor into the bosom of domestic privacy, like Camp- 
bell; nor among creatures of the imagination, like Southey or Darwin. 
Such personages, we readily admit, are not in themselves so interesting 
or striking as those to whom Mr. Scott has devoted himself; but they 
are far less familiar in poetry, and are therefore more likely, perhaps, 
to engage the attention of those to whom poetry is familiar. In the 
management of the passions, again, Mr. Scott appears to have pursued 
the same popular and comparatively easy course. He has raised all 
the most familiar and poetical emotions, by the most obvious aggrava- 
tions, and in the most compendious and judicious way. He has dazzled 
the reader with splendour, and even warmed him with the transient 
heat of various affections; but he has no where fairly kindled him with 
enthusiasm,f or melted him into tenderness. Writing for the world at 
large, he has wisely abstained from attempting to raise any passion to 
a height to which worldly people could not be transported ; and con- 
tented himself with giving his reader the chance of feeling as a brave, 
kind, and affectionate gentleman should often feel in the ordinary course 
of his existence, without trying to breathe into him either that lofty en- 
thusiasm which disdains the ordinary business and amusements of life, 
or that quiet and deep sensibility which unfits for all its pursuits. With 
regard to diction and imagery, too, it is quite obvious, that Mr. Scott 
has not aimed at writing either a pure or a very consistent style. He 

* Vide Edinburgh Review, August, 1810. 

t We entirely disagree with the critic on this point; that is to say, if "enthu- 
siasm" means, as we take it to mean, a poicerful excitement of the imagination. 
In this sense, there are many of Scott's chivalric descriptions that are quite un- 
rivaled in modern poetry for their power of hurrying away the fancy and the 
feelings of his readers. 



246 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

seems to have been anxious only to strike, and to be easily and univer- 
sally understood ; and, for this purpose, to have culled the most glitter- 
ing and conspicuous expressions of the most popular authors, and to 
have interwoven them in splendid confusion with his own nervous dic- 
tion and irregular versification. Indifferent whether he coins or borrows, 
and drawing with equal freedom on his memory and imagination, he 
goes boldly forward in full reliance on a never-failing abundance ; and 
dazzles, with his richness and variety, even those who are most apt to 
be offended with his glare and irregularity. There is nothing in Mr. Scott 
of the severe and majestic style of Milton, or of the terse and fine com- 
position of Pope, or of the elaborate elegance and melody of Campbell, 
or even of the flowing and redundant diction of Southey. But there is 
a medley of bright images and glowing words, set carelessly and loosely 
together — a diction, tinged successively with the careless richness of 
Shakspeare, the harshness and antique simplicity of the old romances, 
the homeliness of vulgar ballads and anecdotes, and the sentimental 
glitter of the most modern poetry, — passing from the borders of the 
ludicrous to those of the sublime, — alternately minute and energetic — 
sometimes artificial and frequently negligent — but always full of spirit 
and vivacity, — abounding in images that are striking, at first sight, to 
minds of every contexture — and never expressing a sentiment which it 
can cost the most ordinary reader any exertion to comprehend." 

We must now turn, for a while, from Scott's literary career, to attend 
to the changes which time and circumst«,nces were effecting in his sta- 
tion in life, as well as in his habits and occupations; and in doing so 
must revert to the period of 1811. 

Like all true poets, Scott's habits of feeling were of a decidedly rural 
character ; but with this love of the scenes of nature were mingled other 
feelings of a less imaginative description. It is evident, from the whole 
tenor of his life, that if he ever allowed any one passion completely to 
engross his mind, it was the ambition of attaining the status of a country 
gentleman, and maintaining the hospitable establishment of a wealthy 
landed proprietor. And this fact leads us to remark an extraordinary 
inconsistency in his character. In his habits, his demeanour, and his 
desires, he was decidedly aristocratic. He was proud of his ancestry ; 
he loved the exercise of the duties pertaining to his official situation in 
the county ; he uniformly affected the society of those above his own 
rank in life; and, as we have already said, he eagerly longed to be en- 
rolled amongst those who are more emphatically denominated the " Lords 
of the creation." Moreover, he had attached himself, in a political sense, 
to that party which has always been considered as more peculiarly 
the aristocratic one in the nation. On the other hand, if we examine 
his prose writings, it will be found that a spirit of what is termed 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 247 

" Liberalism" predominates throughout. He almost uniformly takes 
the side of the weak against the strong, and omits no opportunity of 
ridiculing, or showing vp, the weak " insolence of office," or holding 
out the abuse of power, and the empty vanity of mere rank to our con- 
tempt and detestation. In practice, a devoted worshipper of kings, he 
has mercilessly burlesqued monarchy in his character of James, and 
exposed the licentiousness of princes in the person of Charles. Proud 
of sitting at the tables of dukes and earls, he has drawn with unsparing 
truth the reckless ambition of Leicester, the profligacy of Buckingham, 
and the brutal mirth of Lauderdale, over the sufferings of his victims. 
Jealous of his dignity as a magistrate, he has libeled the whole bench of 
country justices in the character of the empty, overbearing, blustering 
fool. Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, Baronet; and in his portrait- 
ure of Sir Arthur Wardour, he gives us a racy comment on the foolish 
passion of " family pride^ ' Again, it will be found that almost all his 
best — that is to say, his most virtuous and amiable specimens of human 
character, are taken from the lower classes of society. Where shall we 
find so fine a picture of filial and sisterly affection, and true moral firm- 
ness, as in his portraiture of Jeanie Deans — of real generosity and 
honest worth, as in that of Dandie Dinmont — of humble affection and 
devoted gratitude, as in Dominie Sampson — or high souled religious 
principle, as in Mause Headrigg, or the other poor blind widow, sitting 
by the wayside to warn the people of God from the persecutors' fangs? 
If it be true what Byron said of him, "that he was the poet of princes," 
it is as unquestionably true that he was the chronicler of the people, 
and may be said, in this respect, to be in prose what Burns was in 
rhyme. 

All this seems odd enough, but it only demonstrates how far early 
training will go to supersede a man's natural character. Scott's heart 
was evidently with the great mass of society ; but he had been educated 
in strict habits of reverence for rank and office ; and therefore it is that, 
while we find him, in his personal demeanour and habits of acting, 
seemingly yielding an almost subservient deference to the conventional 
distinctions of society, and striving to push forward as far, as he says, 
" abreast of it" as possible, the whole spirit of his genius breathes the 
emphatic language of his brother bard, — 

" The rank is but the guinea-stamp, 
The man's the gowd for a' that." 

During the last few years of his residence at Ashiesteel, Scott rented 
the small farm attached to his residence, upon which, with the usual 
success of all unskilled interlopers in husbandry, he had the pleasure of 
experimentalising as the sole return for a considerable outlay of money. 



248 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Many people are surprised at this uniform failure of the labours of 
" gentlemen farmers ;" but that they are so only shows how ignorant 
they are of the subject. Of all earthly occupations, (if we may risk the 
imputation of a pun,) there is none which requires a longer or more 
severe apprenticeship than that of the agriculturist. It is one, in short, 
which can only be learned by experience, and as all practical husband- 
men well know, the instruction to be acquired from all the books that 
ever were penned on the subject is of little efficiency in directing the 
operations of the field. Hints may be got for the economical manage- 
ment of household details, and other concerns of an agricultural esta- 
blishment, but in all that relates to the main operations of the farmer, 
the head and hand of practical experience alone arc the guides to be 
depended on. It is the almost inevitable consequence, therefore, with 
those who take up the occupation, depending for success upon their 
book-knowledge of the various theories anent the curricula of crops and 
the merits of manure, that the important considerations of soil and cli- 
mate are for the first time brought under their consideration, when they 
have no means of retreating from a ruinous engagement. 

The amusing anecdote concerning the celebrated Lord Kames — an 
inveterate agricultural experimentalist — and his hind, or overseer, is so 
well known north of the Tweed, that our only excuse for quoting it 
here is, that it may not be equally familiar to our southern readers. 
" John," said his lordship, one day, " I have made a discovery, that will 
save all this trouble and expense of carting out and spreading the ma- 
nure about the fields. In short, John, I have found out the way of 
extracting the essence of dung, so that I can carry out as much as will 
manure a whole field in my waistcoat-pocket." John hung his head 
and said nothing. "Why, John," resumed his lordship, " you don't 
appear to see the value of this invention, or — but you don't surely doubt 
what I'm telling you, John?" " Oh, no, my lord," replied John, "it's 
no for me to doot ony thing your lordship says, but I was just thinking 
that if your lordship were to carry out the dung in your waistcoat pock- 
et, ye might bring the crap hame in your great coat pocket !" 

But Scott had neither skill nor pi'cdilection for the pursuits of hus- 
bandry. He loved the romance of natural scenery, but his genius 
tended towards the ornamenting, rather than the fructification of the 
earth. He longed to have a property of his own upon which to expend 
the suggestions of his fancy ; and in an evil hour he fixed upon a spot 
which would almost appear to have been selected upon the principle on 
which a certain author is said to have chosen a theme for versifying — 
to try, namely,, how much could be made out of so barren a subject. 
The following is the account he gives of his commencing proprietor — 
the time referred to being the latter end of the year 1810: — 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 249 

" In the mean time years crept on, and not without their usual depre- 
dations on the passing generation. My sons had arrived at the age 
when the paternal home was no longer their best abode,* as both were 
destined to active life. The field-sports to which I was peculiarly at- 
tached, had now less interest, and were replaced by other amusements 
of a more quiet character, and the means and opportunity of pursuing 
these were to be sought for. I had, indeed, for some years attended to 
farming, a knowledge of which is, or at least was then, indispensable to 
the comforts of a family residing in a solitary country house; but al- 
though this was the favourite amusement of many of my friends, I have 
never been able to consider it as a source of pleasure. I never could 
think it a matter of passing importance, that my cattle or my crops 
were better or more plentiful than those of my neighbours; and never- 
theless, I began to feel the necessity of some more quiet out-door occu- 
pation than I had hitherto pursued. I purchased a small farm of about 
one hundred acres, with the purpose of planting and improving it, to 
which property circumstances afterwards enabled me to make conside- 
rable additions ; and thus an era took place in my life, almost equal to 
the important one mentioned by the Vicar of Wakefield, when he re- 
moved from the Blue-room to the Brown. In point of neighbourhood, 
at least, the change of residence made little more difference. Abbots- 
ford, to which we removed, was only six or seven miles down the Tweed, 
and lay on the same beautiful stream. It did not possess the romantic 
character of Ashiesteel, my former residence; but it had a stretch of 
meadow-land along the river, and possessed, in the phrase of the land- 
scape-gardener, considerable capabilities. Above all, the land was my 
own, like Uncle Toby's bowling-green, to do what I would with. It 
had been, though the gratification was long postponed, an early wish of 
mine to connect myself with my mother earth, and prosecute those ex- 
periments by which a species of creative power is exercised over the 
face of nature. I can trace, even to childhood, a pleasure derived from 
Dodsley's account of Shenstone's Leasowes, and I envied the poet much 
more for the pleasure of accomplishing the objects detailed in his friend's 
sketch of his grounds, than for the possession of pipe, crook, flock, and 
Phillis to the boot of all. My memory, also, tenacious of quaint expres- 
sions, still retained a phrase which it had gathered from an old almanac 
of Charles the Second's time, (when every thing down to almanacs af- 
fected to be smart,) in which the reader, in the month of June, is ad- 
vised, for health's sake, to take a walk of a mile or two before break- 

* Introduction to " Rokeby." This, we suspect, is an instance (among otliers 
to be afterwards noticed) of Scott's obliviousness of memory in these retrospec- 
tive prefaces. His eldest son could not at this time have been above ten, and his 
youngest five, years of age. 

2 I* 



250 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

fast, and, if he can possibly so manage, to let his exercise be taken on 
his own land. With the satisfaction of having attained the fulfilment 
of an early and long-cherished hope, I commenced my improvements, 
as delightful in their progress as those of the child who first makes a 
dress for a new doll. The nakedness of the land was in time hidden 
by woodlands of considerable extent, — the smallest of possible cottages 
was progressively expanded into a sort of dream of a mansion-house, 
whimsical in the exterior, but convenient within. Nor did I forget what 
is the natural pleasure of every man who has been a reader, I mean 
the filling the shelves of a tolerably large library. All these objects I 
kept in view, to be executed as convenience should serve ; and although 
I knew many years must elapse before they could be attained, I was of 
a disposition to comfort myself with the Spanish proverb, ' Time and I 
against any two.' 

" The difficult and indispensable point of finding a permanent subject 
of occupation was now at length attained : but there was annexed to it 
the necessity of becoming again a candidate for public favour; for as I 
was turned improver on the earth of the every-day world, it was under 
condition that the small tenement of Parnassus, which might be accessi- 
ble to my labours, should not remain uncultivated." The author then 
proceeds to detail his various mental speculations respecting his next li- 
terary undertaking, which terminated in the production of " Rokeby." 

The spot which Scott thus fixed upon to connect himself, as he quaintly 
enough says, with mother earth, was originally named " Cartley-Hole," 
and is situated on the south bank of the Tweed, about three miles above 
Melrose. It originally belonged to Dr. Douglas, formerly minister of 
the neighbouring parish of Galashiels, from whom Scott purchased it. 
The situation is extremely picturesque, and the whole neighbourhood is 
rife with the most interesting associations connected with the historical 
or legendary annals of Scotland. Immediately behind the house, the 
Eildon Hills, cloven in three by the magic hand of Michael Scott, " lift 
their bold foreheads to the sky" with peculiar grandeur of effect. The 
Huntly Burn, where true Thomas of Ercildoun is said to have wooed 
and won the Queen of Faery-land, is in the neighbourhood. " Skin- 
nersfield," too, where the gallant Buccleuch made a vain attempt to res- 
cue his sovereign from the thraldom of the Douglases, is not far dis- 
tant.* There are also the softer associations called up by the appear- 
ance of the " Cowden-knowes," which can be seen from the house. 
While looking out from amongst the wooded groves that skirt the Tweed, 
the magnificent ruins of Melrose Abbey are to be espied in the distance. 

* Allan Cunningham, who visited Scott at Abbotsford in 1830, says, that the 
latter took him to a spot on the Eildon Hill, whence he pointed out to him the 
sites of no less than fifteen memorable engagements. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 251 

Upon the whole, Abbotsford — which appellation, having reference to 
a neighbouring ford in the Tweed, the poet substituted for its more vul- 
gar primitive title, — has innumerable charms in its situation for a poetic 
imagination ; and we are convinced that it was from these romantic cha- 
racteristics alone, that Scott was led to fix upon it as the nucleus of his 
future domain. In intrinsic value, it certainly could have hw recom- 
mendations in the eye of an experienced agriculturist. Scott afterwards 
wrought wonders upon it, but those who remember its appearance pre- 
vious to its passing into his hands, will be aware that the "capabilities" 
which he speaks of as pertaining to it, existed almost solely in the fer- 
tility of his own fancy and the depth of his purse. The greater part 
of the land, too, adjacent to the original purchase, was utterly barren 
and worthless. Most of it had formerly been subject to what is called 
a servitude of feal and divot in favour of the villagers of Darnwick 
and Melrose; and thus, as its vegetable surface was periodically pared 
off, it at length came to lose all its natural pith, and in fact was reduced 
to little else than what Scripture terms " a field of stones." At the 
time when Scott came to take possession of his property, indeed, in 
1811, there could hardly have been seen a more bleak and desolate 
prospect than the land around " Cartley-Hole" presented. A mean 
farm-house, with its small " kale-yard" before it ; a few small tur- 
nip-fields, with their stinted produce; painfully reclaimed from a 
naked moor, and intersected with a few straggling stripes of unthrivinor 
firs; such was the ungracious locality which Scott selected as the site of 
his fiiture " kingdom," and upon which he operated, in the course of a 
lew years, a change scarcely less magical than the effect exercised by 
his writings on the minds of his countrymen. This became, in fact, 
the principal source of his occupation during his future life; for we be- 
lieve we may assert, that but for the passionate desire he cherished to 
create an estate and possess a domestic establishment, suited to his ideas 
of the rank of a country gentleman, it is very doubtful whether the 
world would have been gratified with so many, if any, of those splendid 
productions of his genius which afterwards appeared. 

In the year succeeding his removal to Abbotsford, the emoluments of 
his situation as principal clerk of session, by the new regulation respect- 
ing the payment of superannuated officers, before referred to, and of 
which his predecessor availed himself, for the first time began to fall in 
to Scott. These, together with what he already possessed, raised his 
income to upwards of 2000Z. per annum, a sum certainly sufficient to 
satisfy the desires of any man of moderate wishes, and amply suflicient 
to support the rank of a private gentleman in Scott's station in life. 
Nor have we ever heard that he exhibited in his own person, at this 
time, any tendency to private extravagance, beyond the exercise of a 



252 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

somewhat liberal hospitality. During his residence at Ashiesteel he had 
kept no equipage, but traveled to and from the metropolis in the mail;* 
and, besides, the nature of his occupations necessarily rendered his ha- 
bits much domesticated. It was clearly, therefore, to the ambition to 
which we have already adverted, that we must refer the cause of that 
astonishing assiduity which distinguished him for many years subse- 
quent to the above period. 

But it was not until after the commencement of his connection with 
Mr. Constable, that Scott launched out into those extensive landed spe- 
culations, improvements, and buildings, which we will afterwards have 
to speak of. In the mean time, we will pause a little to advert to his 
personal appearance and habits at this — the " middle," as it may be 
termed — period of his life. 

Scott had now (1811) reached the full vigour of manhood, being in 
his fortieth year, and may be said to be at his prime, both as it respects 
strength of body and maturity of intellect. His early debility of frame 
had been succeeded by the most robust health, confirmed, no doubt, by 
his periodical excursions in the highlands both of the south and north of 
Scotland ; and perhaps it would have been difficult at this time to have 
found a man of a more powerful and Herculean build. His person, 
which was upwards of six feet in height, was remarkably round, firm, 
and compact; while his broad shoulders and long brawny arms showed 
that he would have been a formidable antagonist in a fray. " I have 
seen many distinguished poets," says Allan Cunningham, who about 
the period we speak of, walked from Dumfries to Edinburgh for the 
express purpose of seeing the author of the "Lay," and "Marmion," — 
"Burns, Byron, Southey, Wordsworth, Campbell, Rogers, Wilson, 
Crabbe and Coleridge ; but, with the exception of Burns, Scott, for per- 
sonal vigour, surpasses them all. Burns was, indeed, a powerful man, 
and Wilson is celebrated for feats of strength and agility ; I think, how- 
ever, the stalworth frame, the long nervous arms, and well knit joints 
of Scott are worthy of the best days of the border, and would have 
o-ained him distinction at the foray which followed the feast of spurs." 

• There is a curious enough circumstance connected with his journeys be- 
twixt Edinburgh and Ashiesteel, which, we believe, has never before been no- 
ticed, if, indeed, at all known. We have remarlicd Scott's predilection for dogs 
in his boyhood, and this passion remained strong within him through hfe. Ac- 
cordingly, in traveling betwixt his town and country residences, he was con- 
stantly attended by some favourite of the canine species, and in order to make 
sure of its company, and perhaps to obviate any risk of grumbling on the part of 
guards and drivers, he uniformly took a scat for the dog as well as himself! This 
anecdote we have from a literary friend, who says that it was from his hearing of 
this circumstance that his boyish attention was first attracted towards the singu- 
larity of Scott's character. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 253 

As yet, too, his lameness, which afterwards affected liis walking so ma- 
terially, gave him but little inconvenience. Nor had "Time thinned 
his flowing locks," which were of a pale auburn colour, smooth and 
silky. His complexion was also fresh and ruddy, bespeaking exube- 
rant health. 

His attendance at his post in the inner division of the parliament 
house, during the time of session, was most punctual, being generally 
from about ten to two o'clock of the day. His duties, however, were 
of so trivial a nature, consisting almost solely in taking down the deci- 
sions, or interlocutors, as they are called, pronounced by the judges in 
the various cases brought before them, that he had much leisure to em- 
ploy himself about other matters. Accordingly, he was in the habit of 
writing a great portion of his extensive correspondence in the sanctuary 
of Themis herself, whom he had so traitorously deserted ; and even, it 
is said, devoted much of his time to composition. For example, we 
have been told that " Harold the Dauntless" was wholly written there, 
during the intervals between the registration of one case and the deci- 
sion of another. We have heard, also, an anecdote in reference to this 
practice of Scott, which is worthy of being recorded here. A remark- 
ably interesting case happened to be heard one day in the division to 
which he belonged, in which his friend Jeffrey was engaged. In his 
address, the pleader displayed more than his usual brilliancy ; he had 
become personally interested in the subject, and his eloquence, in con- 
sequence, waxed m.ore and more animated and energetic as he pro- 
ceeded. He was not so much engrossed with it, however, but that his 
falcon eye discerned the pen of Scott, as he himself was approaching, 
as it were, the acme of his argument, flying over the paper at a most 
unwonted rate, as if striving to keep pace with the torrent of language 
that was flowing from his own lips. Aware of Scott's habitual indif- 
ference to the judicial proceedings of the court, Jeffrey, after his speech 
was concluded, leant over the bar which separates the advocates from 
the clerk's table, and requested, with a knowing smile, a sight of the 
7iotes which his friend had been writing down so assiduously. Scott at 
once handed him the manuscript, which proved to be the complete draft 
of his warlike and spirit-stirring lyric, 

" Pibroch of Donnhuil Dhu, 

Pibroch of Donnhuil, 
Wake your wild voice anew, 

Summon Glenconnel ," 

and written off without a word of correction. The poet at the same 
time stated to his friend, that whatever spirit the verses contained, was 
owing entirely to his own eloquence; that he had begun to scribble the 



254 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

first two or three lines without having the slightest idea of what was to 
follow, or even of composing at all, but that the rapid and increasing 
volume of his friend's oratory ringing in his ears — although perfectly 
unconscious of its purport — had carried him on with his subject with 
an enthusiasm which it might be supposed would have been awakened 
by the commanding strains of "Donnhuil Dhu" himself. This is cer- 
tainly one of the most remarkable tributes ever paid to the faculty of 
eloquence; and those who recollect the singularly animated little lyric, 
thus strangely brought forth, which increases in rapidity and force of 
diction from the beginning to the very last word, will acknowledge that 
the story, if untrue, is at least far from being improbable. 

But Scott not unfrequently gave rather serious proofs of his inatten- 
tion to the legal proceedings which it was his duty to watch, and we 
have been informed of repeated blunders committed by him in reporting 
the interlocutors of the court. In one case wherein a friend of ours 
was engaged, and which was heard in full presence — that is to say, be- 
fore the whole fifteen judges — Scott drew out the decision in terms the 
very reverse of what had been pronounced by their lordships. The 
interlocutor was luckily inspected before being signed, (otherwise the 
whole case must necessarily have been re-heard,) and the error was 
rectified by a new one mutually concocted between the agents and 
counsel of the parties. 

Frequently Scott sat doing nothing but staring about him in a vacant 
manner, with his under lip far drawn into his mouth, as if he experi- 
enced a difficulty in breathing. At such times his countenance seemed 
to have rather a stolid expression, but to those who examined it closely, 
it evidently arose from the intensity of internal rumination. He would 
frequently cast his eyes up to the gallery, which fronted the bench, and 
when any strange looking rustic lout happened to be there, he usually 
watched his demeanour for a good while, and often broke out into a 
hearty laugh, as if tickled by the associations called up by the appear- 
ance of the personage before him. During these involuntary cachina- 
tions, his face assumed a peculiarly droll expression. His eyes, which, 
in what may be termed the moments of repose, gave little animation to 
his features, appeared then to light up the whole visage with the sun- 
shine of humour. The colour of these organs it is not very easy to 
describe, but from our own recollection of them, (and we had for many 
years daily opportunities for such personal observations,) we would 
characterize them as of a sort of grayish blue, small, but when looked 
into, of mysterious depth, and glowing with a burning light. They 
were surrounded by numerous diverging lines, which increased greatly 
the expression of the ludicrous in his coimtenancc, and possessed the 
extraordinary jjrojxjrty of shutting as much from below as above. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 255 

Even the nose, which was the least gainly feature of his face, contri- 
buted to enhance its humorous character, which was the aspect it gene- 
rally wore, especially in company, from the habitual cheerfulness of 
his mind. When talking on any subject of a sacred or affecting na- 
ture, however, his features assumed an expression of deep solemnity 
and feeling. 

The extraordinary elevation of his head, which rose like a cone up- 
wards from his eyebrows — the latter being uncommonly prominent and 
shaggy — was the most remarkable object in Scott's appearance. The 
measurement of the part below the eyes was fully an inch and a half 
less than that above, which, according to the rules of phrenology, de- 
noted powerful intellectuality of character. The nose was far sepa- 
rated from the mouth, and the sort of grooved hollow which connects 
these two features was deep and strongly marked, giving an appearance 
of firmness and decision to the whole face, to which a small and undis- 
tinguished chin — usu^ly supposed to denote the reverse of genius — 
would otherwise have given a sort of cast of irresolution. He was al- 
ways dressed in a full suit of black, with a full linen collar generally 
falling over his ample white neckcloth. 

Such was Scott's personal appearance at the middle term of his life, 
and we may say for nearly ten years afterwards, for it was not until 
after recovering from a severe illness in 1819, that any discernible marks 
of old age could be seen in his features or person. His hair, however, 
then became a silvery gray, his lameness increased, and his face began 
to be seamed with wrinkles. At the time we speak of he was in the 
habit of walking about a good deal in the outer-house — a practice which 
he latterly left almost entirely off — and from his halt and his towering 
head he was a most conspicuous figure. He was oftener seen walking 
alone than might have been expected in one so extensively acquainted, 
and this more particularly after suspicion had affixed to him the author- 
ship of the Waverley Novels. In fact, it appeared as if his acquaintances 
scrupled to occupy, in trivial conversation, the time of one who had 
such a multiplicity of avocations on hand, and to consider that every 
moment so wasted would just delay the publication of the next novel so 
much the longer. He would sometimes be observed to rise suddenly 
from his seat in the inner-house, pass through the northern door of the 
outer-hall, and thence up stairs to the Advocates' Library. Whilst sit- 
ting in one or other of the recesses there, poring over, and taking notes 
from, some large antique folio, groups of strangers were to be seen walk- 
ing backwards and forwards through the library, in order to take a lei- 
surely view of him, and imprint his features on their memory. After 
he had risen and departed, these strangers would hasten up to the desk 
and carry off the pens which they had seen him use, to be preserved as 



256 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

relics, while they also endeavoured, by examining the volume he had 
been using, to form a conjecture at the character of the next work 
which was to appear from his pen. Speaking of pens, we may remark 
en passant, that he always used Bramah's patent pens whilst writing at 
home. And to this circumstance he evidently alludes in the introduc- 
tion to the " Fortunes of Nigel :" — 

"There is my friend Allan (Cunningham) has written just such a 
play as I might write myself in a very sunny day, and with one of 
Bramah's extra patent pens. I cannot make neat work without such 
appurtenances."* 

Scott was not a less conspicuous figure on the street, than within 
doors. The point of the stick, which assisted him in walking, was 
placed close to the inner side of the large toe of his right foot — the lame 
one — over which the rest of his tall robust person projected considera- 
bly; so that, in more ways than one, his head may be said to have 
kept always in advance of his feet. His eyes were constantly fixed on 
the ground; and he would frequently pause for a minute or two in 
complete abstraction of mind. In reference to this habit of reverie in 
public, we have to quote another anecdote by Mr. Cunningham, illus- 
trative of the fact, in the account of his pilgrimage from Dumfries-shire 
to Edinburgh in 1809, before spoken of. y 

* We cannot forbear quoting more of this passage, as affording anotlier proof 
of the kind and benevolent feeling which Scott cherished towards every coteni- 
porary son of genius, and the pleasure he seemed to derive from any opportunity 
that offered itself for speaking a good word in their behalf with the world. A 
conversation is supposed to be holding between Captain Clutterbuck and the 
Author of Waverley : — 

" Captain. I still advise a volume of dramas like Lord Byron's. 

Author. No, his lordship is a cut above me, — I won't run my horse against 
his, if I can help myself. But there is my friend Allan has written just such a 
play, as I might write myself in a very sunny day, and with one of Bramah's 
extra patent pens. I cannot make neat work without such appurtenances. 

Captain. Do you mean Allan Ramsay ? 

.Author. No, nor Barbara Allan either. I mean Allan Cunningham, who has 
just published his tragedy of Sir Marmaduke Maxwell, full of merry-making 
and murdering, kissing and cutting of throats, and passages which lead to nothing, 
and which are very pretty passages for all that. Not a glimpse of probability is 
there about the plot, but so much animation in particular passages, and such a 
vein of poetry through the whole, as I dearly wish I could infuse into my Culi- 
nary Remains, should I ever be tempted to publish them. With a popular im- 
press, people would read and admire the beauties of Allan — as it is, they may 
perhaps only note his defects, — or, what is worse, not note him at all. — But 
never mind them, honest Allan; you are a credit to Caledonia for all that. — 
There are some lyrical effusions of his, too, which you would do well to read, 
Captain. ' Its hame, and its hame," is equal to Burns. 

Captain. I will take tiie hint," &c. &c. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 257 

" I have reason to remember," says Cunningham, " his house in 
North Castle street; for various wanderings I had before it with the 
hope of seeing the poet; and though I was gratified at last, I did not 
succeed, till I had in a manner become familiarly acquainted with almost 
every stone which composed the front of the building. My wander- 
ings, too, were attended with something like an adventure. 1 did not 
know a soul in Edinburgh who could introduce me, or rather I had 
such a sense of my own unworthiness, as, compared to so great a poet, 
that I did not desire an introduction, but strove to see him and peruse 
his face, without being put to the torture of conversation. — I could have 
faced a battery sooner. On the second or third day of my pilgrimage, 
I had passed and repassed before the house several times, when, to my 
surprise, a lady looked out at a window in the adjoining house, and 
calling me by name, desired a servant to open the door and let me in. 
This was a person of some consideration in my native place, who was 
residing there with her family, to Avhom I was slightly known. ' I saw 
you,' she said, ' walking up and down, and thought you might as well 
spend your time here as waste it in the street.' ' I was not exactly 
wasting it,' I answered ; ' 1 am come to Edinburgh to see Walter Scott, 
and as he lives here, I hope to see him as he goes into his own house.' 
' This is an affair of poetry, then, I find,' said the lady, with a smile : 
' I cannot help you, for I have not the honour of his acquaintance, 
though his neighbour ; but you shall see him nevertheless, for this is 
about his time of coming home — and here he is !' ' What !' I said, ' that 

tall, stalwart man, with the staff" in his hand, and V ' The same, 

the same !' answered ray friend, laying her hand on my arm ; ' speak 
softly. Why, I protest he is coming here !' Scott passed his own 
door, and — the houses of Edinburgh, it must be borne in mind, are as 
like one another as bricks — walked up the steps of that in which I was, 
and announced himself with the knocker. He was instantly admitted. 
He was in some poetic reverie or other, and had made a mistake ; he 
no sooner saw the bonnets of three or four boys on the pegs where he 
was about to hang his hat than he said loud enough for us to hear him, 
' Hey-day ! here's owre mony bairns' bonnets for the house to be mine !' 
and apologising to the servant, withdrew hastily." 

As we have been led into giving an account of Scott's personal char- 
acteristics in this place — somewhat prematurely perhaps, and at greater 
length than we at first intended — we may also notice another peculiarity 
belonging to him. This was his strong, rough, guttural pronunciation 
of the letter r, so peculiar to the natives of Northumberland, and vul- 
garly termed a burr. This habit of orthoepy was so inveterate in him 
as even to aflfect his ear in the construction of his verse ; and numei-ous 
lines could be pointed out in his poems where he has given that single 

2i 



258 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

letter the importance of two syllables, or at least a syllable and a half; 
thus giving to his metre in the eyes of those unacquainted with his pe- 
culiarity, the appearance in many places of being defective ; as for 
example, — 

"From the voice of the coming' stor (w) m." 
and — 

*' Shall tame the unicor (u) n's pride," 

in the first canto of the Lay of the Last Minstrel. 

Before again resuming consideration of Scott's literary career, we 
may here notice a circumstance which strongly marks the estimation 
in which he was then held by his countrymen, both as a poet and a 
citizen. On the 22d December, 1813, the lord provost, magistrates 
and council of Edinburgli, voted him the freedom of the city, and at the 
same time presented him with a silver tankard, on Avhich was a medal- 
lion, containing the following flattering inscription from the elegant pen 
of Dr. Gregory : — 

GUALTERUM SCOTT, 

1)E ABBOTSFORD, 

Virum summi ingenii ; 
Scriptorem clcgantem ; 
Poetarum sui seculi principem 

Patrix Decus; 

Ob varia erga ipsam merita, 

In civium suorum numerum 

Grata ascrlpsit Civitas Edinburgensis 

Et hoc cantharo donavit. 

A. D. M.DCCC.XIII. 

We have now to turn to the last, but not the least important branch, 
certainly, of our critical task — Scott's prose romances ; and, we con- 
fess, we do so with no slight degree of diflidence. In many respects 
it is by much the more agreeable part of our undertaking ; but we are, 
at the same time, but too conscious of underlying the disadvantage of 
comparison with the host of others who have preceded us, with many 
of whom it would be the height of presumption in us to attempt to 
measure our efforts. One advantage, however, we possess, that if we 
are the last in tlie held, and can, therefore, hope to glean but little that 
is new with our hands, we are enabled to collate, and present to the 
world, in a concise form, the result of the labours of our predecessors. 
If the part of our task, therefore, at which we have now arrived, be 
found to contain less ol what is new and analytical than is to be found 
in their lucubrations, we are humbly confident, that it will be found 
equally explanatory, and, at the same time, more amusing. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FROM THE PUBLICATION OF " WAVERLEy" IN 1814, TO THE PUBLICATION 
OF KOB roy" in 1818. 

It is usual, we believe, to associate the rise of Scott as a prose writer 
with the decline of his popularity as a poet, — whether the supposed 
cause of the latter was a waning of his own powers, the ca,pricious fic- 
kleness of the public, or the superior claims of a rival. For our own 
part, we are inclined to attribute the transition in his style of composi- 
tion — for the change goes no farther — to a very different reason ; being 
neither more nor less than the redundant exuberance of the author's 
genius. We are persuaded, in short, that Scott would have betaken 
himself naturally to prose romance, had neither Byron appeared, nor 
the public opinion of his poetic powers, (from whatever cause,) become 
colder. This conclusion seems fully warranted, as well by the means 
which Scott has himself left us of forming a judgment on the subject, as 
by other collateral evidence which we have taken considerable pains to 
collate and compare. We are, at the same time, compelled to remark, 
that in the account which the author gives of the process of transfigura- 
tion, as it may be termed, of liis literary character — written, it must be 
kept in mind, at a very late period of life — there occur many discrepan- 
cies as to dates and assertions, which unfortunately tend to throw an air 
of dubiety over it, as well as over many oilier parts of these explanatory 
chapters. These we shall notice after allowing the author to tell his 
own story, as all must feel interested in acquiring an exact knowledge 
of every circumstance connected with the origin of the remarkable series 
of productions now under consideration. 

" It makes no part of the present story* to detail how the success of 
a few ballads had the effect of changing all the purpose and tenor of my 
life, and of converting a pains-taking lawyer, of some years' standing, 
into a follower of literature. It is enough to say, that I had assumed 
the latter character for several years, before I seriously thought of at- 
tempting a work of imagination in prose, although one or two of my 
poetical attempts did not differ from romance, otherwise than by being 
written in verse. But yet I may observe, that about this time (now, 

* General Preface to new edition of Waverly novels, 1829. 



260 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

alas ! thirty years since) I had nourished the ambitious desire of com- 
posing a tale of chivalry, which was to be in the style of the Castle of 
Otranto, v/ith plenty of Border characters and supernatural incident. 
Having found unexpectedly a chapter of this intended work* among 
some old papers, I have subjoined it to this introductory essay, thinking 
some readers may account as curious the first attempts at romantic com- 
position by an author who has written so much in that department. 
* * * This particular subject was never resumed, but I did not 
abandon the idea of fictitious composition in prose, though I determined 
to give another turn to the style of the work. 

" My early recollections of the Highland scenery and customs made 
so favourable an impression in the poem called the ' Lady of the Lake,' 
that I was induced to think of attemping something of the same kind in 
prose. I had been a good deal in the Highlands at a time when they 
were much less accessible and much less visited, than they have been of 
late years, and was acquainted with many of the old warriors of 1745, 
who were, like most veterans, easily induced to fight their battles over 
again, for the benefit of a willing listener like myself. It naturally 
occurred to me, that the ancient traditions and high spirit of a people, 
who, living in a civilized age and country, retained so strong a tincture 
of manners belonging to an early period of society, must afford a sub- 
ject favourable for romance, if it should not prove a curious tale marred 
in the telling. 

"It was with some idea of this kind, that about the year 1805, I 
threw together about one-third part of the first volume of ' Waverley.' It 
was advertised to be published by the late Mr. John Ballantyne, book- 
seller in Edinburgh, under the name of ' Waverley ; or, 'Tis Fifty 
Years Since,' — a title afterwards altered to ' 'Tis Sixty Years Since,' 
that the actual date of publication might be made to correspond with the 
period in which the scene was laid. Having proceeded so far, I think, 
as the seventh chapter, I showed my work to a critical friend, whose 
opinion was unfavourable ; and having then some poetical reputation, I 
was unwilling to risk the loss of it by attempting a new style of com- 
position. I therefore threw aside the work 1 had commenced without 
either reluctance or remonstrance. * * * This portion of the 
manuscript was laid aside in the drawers of an old desk, which, on my 
first coming to reside at Abbotsford, in 1811, was placed in a lumber 
garret and entirely forgotten." 

Those of our readers who have minutely attended to the tenor of our 
narrative, will be at no loss to discern the confused and contradictory 
statements in the preceding "explanations." In the first place, the 

* Intended to have been called " Thomas the Rhymer." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 261 

writer says that he never thought of attempting any imaginary work in 
prose until " several years" after he had embraced the profession of 
literature; adding, in the next sentence, that the period of his adopting 
the latter resolution was " thirty years since," — that is to say, in the 
year 1799. Now it will be recollected that at the year 1799, his only 
productions were two or three translations from the German, and a 
couple of original ballads, which, from the terms in which he refers to 
them in another place, he by no means seemed to reckon decisive of his 
claims to the literary character; and he moreover tells us, in the intro- 
duction to his poetical works, that it was not until the year 1803 that 
he entertained any serious thoughts of embracing the profession of 
literature at all. Again, one would be led to suppose from the succeed- 
ing paragraph, that it was owing to the success of the " Lady of the 
Lake," (published in 1810,) he was first led to think of attemping a 
prose work, embracing the same description of character and scenery, — 
in short, " Waverley," — which he immediately thereafter says was com 
menced in 1805 ! 

We know not how to explain these incongruities, unless by the 
supposition of a lapse of the pen, or the memory, on the part of Scott. 
Respecting the first prose attempt alluded to — a contemplated romance, in 
which he meant to bring forward true Thomas of Ercildoun as a prin- 
cipal character — the question is of little consequence. Not more than 
eight pages of it were written, and there is nothing in these indicative 
either of the intended plot, or the author's purpose or power of man- 
aging it. We are inclined to think that the idea suggested itself to him 
during his antiquarian investigations respecting the romance of " Sir 
Tristrem," which must have engaged his attention for several years 
previous to its publication in 1804. 

"With regard to "Waverley," however, the dubiety we have 
pointed out is more important ; and many circumstances lead us to sup- 
pose that Scott, although he may have contemplated such a work, nay 
even commenced it, has antedated by several years the period of his 
writing out so large a portion as he mentions. There is one strong 
fact in corroboration of this opinion. He speaks as if the intended 
production Avas advertised to be published by Mr. Ballantyne, immedi- 
ately upon its being so far proceeded with. Now, we have seen that 
Scott's connection with Ballantyne did not commence until 1809 — four 
years later than the period assigned by him to the commencement of 
" Waverley." We have a confirmation of our suspicions, moreover, 
iu the trust-worthy testimony of Mr. Cunningham. " There is a se- 
cret," says he, " in the history of the composition of these works, not 
as yet, I believe, fully revealed. During the year in which ' Marmion' 
was published, I was told by one, tvho had the means of knowing, 



26^2 LIFE OF SIR WAI,TRR SCOTT. 

that Scott was busied with a work, the scenes of which were hid in 
the rebeUion of 1745, and that considerable progress was made." 

This perfectly agrees with our own conjectures, and, in fact, leaves 
no doubt in our mind on the subject. It is true, Scott goes on to state, 
that the success of Miss Edgeworth's national novels, and his being 
employed to complete Mr. Strutt's " Queen-Hoo Hall" in 1808, after- 
wards instigated him to complete the " xmfimshed'''' work. We cannot 
help thinking, however, that the correct reading ought to be, that he 
felt a renovated desire to commence the work he had previously con- 
templated. 

But there is also another strange anachronism in Scott's statement 
(in the " General Prefeee" to his novels of which we are speaking) 
respecting the originally intended, and subsequently adopted title of the 
work, which, we believe, was first pointed out by Mr. Chambers. Scott 
says, that this was originally (i. e. in 1805, as he alleges) " 'Tis fifty 
years since ;" but, from the postponement of the work, it was after- 
wards altered to " 'Tis sixty years since ;" in order that the actual 
.publication of the work might correspond with the period in ivhich 
the scene ivas laid. Now, it will be observed, that the era of 1745 
was, in reality, just sixty years antecedent to that of 1805 ; and that if 
any alteration in the title was necessary to suit it to the date of publica- 
tion, it ought to have been, at least, " 'Tis seventy years since." This 
oversight is the more remarkable, that in the introductory chapter to the 
novel, as originally published, in which the author aflects to be writing 
in 1805, the space of time betwixt the scene of the plot and the time 
of writing is correctly set down — namely, "sixty years since." 

All this argues a confusion of dates and circumstances in the memory 
of the illustrious author, whilst engaged in his revision of the works of 
his earlier years, which, we are inclined to think, betrays the shadow 
which was settling down on his once unclouded intellect, long ere the 
lamentable casualty was suspected of drawing near. We regret that 
our duty as biographers compels us to notice the fact, as the circum- 
stances must unquestionably militate against the general credibility of 
the recently penned autobiographical chapters prefixed to his various 
works. But if we have established any thing to Scott's prejudice, in 
this respect, it ought to be kept in mind, that we have likewise been 
endeavouring to prove more than an equivalent as respects his general 
fame — namely, that the production of his prose works originated solely 
fpom the overflowing fulness of his own fancy, and not from any feeling 
of necessity for chalking out a new course of literary labour in conse- 
quence of the superior claims of a rival in his earlier path of occupation. 
But we will dismiss the subject for a more inviting theme, — the occa- 
sion of his recommencing his incompleted romance, which, as he has 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 263 

told ns, had been thrown by and forgotten in a himber garret at his re- 
moval to Abbotsford in 1811. 

" I happened," he says, " to want some fishing tackle for the use of a 
guest, when it occurred to me to search the old writing-desk already 
mentioned, in which I used to keep articles of that nature. I got access 
to it with some difficulty ; and in looking for lines and flies, the long- 
lost manuscript presented itself. I immediately set to work to com- 
plete it, according to my original purpose," — and it was completed 
accordingly. . , .. 

" Waverley" appeared early in 1814, immediately previous to Scott's 
setting out on a tour through the Highlands and Islands of the north of 
Scotland, with the view of making himself acquainted with the localities 
which he meant to treat of in the "Lord of the Isles."* At first the 

• There are two small poetical relics connected with this journey, which, be- 
ing short, and besides little known, we reckon worthy of insertion here. The 
one ispresei-ved in the album of the Bell Rock light -house, which Scott stop- 
ped to inspect, and is as follows : — 

" Far in the bosom of the deep 

O'er these wild shelves my watch I keep, 

A ruddy gem of changeful light 

Bound on the dusky brow of night. 

The seaman bids my lustre hail. 

And scoi'ns to strike his timorous sail. 

Walter Scott." 
July 30, 1814. 

The other has been kindly communicated to us by Mr. Chambei-s, who ob- 
serves, that "even in such a trifle the hand of a master could not be concealed." 
It was written by Scott in the album of the inn at Ulva, the ferry to Stafta. 



" StafTa ! sprung from high Macdonald, 
Worthy branch of old Clani-onald ! 
Staffa ! king of all good fellows, 
Well befall thy hills and vallies, 
Lakes and inlets, deeps and shallows 
Cliffs of dai'kness, caves of wonder. 
Echoing the Atlantic's thunder, — 
Mountains which the gray mist covers. 
Where the chieftain's spirit hovers. 
Pausing as his pinions quiver. 
Stretched to quit his land for ever! 
Each kind influence rest above thee, 
And thou lov'st, and all who love thee. 
Warmer heart 'twixt this and Jaffa, 
Beats not than in breast of Staffa! 

W. S 



,} 



264 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

fate of the romance seemed extremely doubtful, — a fact which may he 
held as the most undoubted proof of its striking originality. The pub- 
lic, in fact, was as much puzzled what to think of it, as were the two 
critics to whom Scott submitted the first specimen of his poetical ro- 
mances. In a few weeks, however, it began to win its way, and when 
he returned from his northern trip, he had the high gratification of find- 
ing the whole world astir on the subject, and curiosity in full cry after the 
name of the author. We can suppose his feelings on the occasion to have 
been somewhat similar to those of Franklin when he drew the first spark of 
electrical fire from the thunder-cloud ; and his sensations of triumph, he 
tells us, were the more completely happy, that they were confined solely 
to his own bosom. " The knowledge that I had the public approba- 
tion," he says, " was like having the property of a hidden treasure, not 
the less gratifying than if all the world knew it was his own. I did not 
the less feel gratified for the public favour, although I did not proclaim 
it, — as the lover who wears his mistress's favour in his bosom is as 
proud, though not so vain of possessing it, as another who displays the 
token of her grace upon his bonnet." 

He had taken eflectual measures before-hand to secure the enjoy- 
ment of his solitary meal ; his modesty preventing him from anticipa- 
ting whether the dish was to prove sweet or bitter. " My original 
motive," he says, "for publishing the work anonymously, was the 
consciousness that it was an experiment on the public taste which might 
very probably fail, and therefore there was no occasion to take on 
myself the personal risk of discomfiture. For this purpose considerable 
precautions were used to preserve secrecy. My old friend and school- 
fellow, Mr. James Ballantyne, who printed these novels, had the ex- 
clusive task of corresponding with the author, who thus had not only 
the advantage of his professional talents, but also of his critical abilities. 
The original manuscript, or, as it is technically called copy, was trans- 
cribed under Mr. Ballantyne's eye by confidential persons; nor was 
there an instance of treachery during the many years in which these 
precautions were resorted to, although various individuals were em- 
ployed at different times. Double proof-sheets were regularly printed 
off". One was forwarded to the author by Mr. Ballantyne, and the 
alterations which it received were, by his own hand, copied upon the 
other proof-sheet for the use of the printers, so that even the corrected 
proofs of the author were never seen in the printing office ; and thus 
the curiosity of such eager inquirers as made the most minute investi- 
gations, was entirely at fault." 

Scott afterwards goes on to say, that one of his chief reasons for 
keeping sub umbra, and that more especially after the success of 
Waverley, was the desire of obviathig all personal discussions respect- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 265 

ing his own productions — a motive which every literary man of correct 
feeling will sufficiently under-stand. " It is in every case," he most 
justly observes, "a dangerous intercourse for an author to be dwelling 
continually among those who make his writings a frequent and familiar 
subject of conversation, but who must necessarily be partial judges of 
works composed in their own society. The habits of self-importance 
which are thus acquired by authors, are highly injurious to a well regu- 
lated mind ; for the cup of flattery, if it does not, like that of Circe, 
reduce men to the level of beasts, is sure, if eagerly drained, to bring the 
best and the ablest down to that of fools. This risk was in some degree 
prevented by the mask which I wore; and ray own stores of self-conceit 
were left to their natural course without being enhanced by the partial- 
ity of friends, or adulation of flatterers." 

Coming from almost any other individual than Scott, we would be 
apt to suspect something of afllectation in this expressed apprehension 
for his own equanimity. It might be supposed that the man who could 
calmly receive the incense offered up to him as the " Monarch of Par- 
nassus," would run little risk of being intoxicated with the fame accru- 
ing from his supremacy as a novelist. But while the whole tenor of 
Scott's conduct attest the manly simplicity of his mind, and his perfect 
freedom equally from assumed modesty and undue bashfulness, it must 
be recollected that the crisis of the publication of " Waverley" was a 
much more trying one than the period of his enlisting in the service of 
the muses. He had then, so to speak, no character to lose ; now he 
had set his whole chances of fortune and reputation upon the cast of a 
single hazardous experiment ; and we can liken his situation to nothing 
so much as that of the physician, who in some extreme case administers 
a desperate dose to his patient, risking, upon the result, his whole stock 
of already acquired celebrity, as well as his future chances of success in 
his profession. It is true that if the experiment had failed, Scott had 
effectually obviated the unpleasing consequence of having the finger of 
derision pointed at him in public. But the pain of his own feelings 
would not have been the less acute, nor the cloud thereby cast over his 
future literary prospects the less chilling and gloomy. His feelings 
of exultation at his success must, therefore, have been proportion ably 
strong; and his mind one of no ordinary calmness, that, at a crisis so 
triumphant, could refrain from coming personally forward to claim the 
applause which the public was lavishing upon they knew not whom. 
But modesty is almost as invariably the concomitant of true genius, as 
vanity is found to be the right-hand comrade of folly. 

In the course of two months, twelve thousand copies of " Waverley" 
were dispersed through England and Scotland, and the delight as well 

2k ■ 



266 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

as the curiosity of the public became every day stronger and more uni- 
versal. And this, be it observed, in the absence of any recommenda- 
tion from the critics, who were for some time as much puzzled what to 
say or think, as the highland cateran in the popular story on getting 
hold of a watch for the first time. Like him, too, however, they con- 
cluded that it must be something ; but they observed the most wary 
caution in their expressions of praise and blame. Such a scene was " novel 
and striking" — such a character " forcibly drawn" — the diction in this 
place was "animated," and in that "pathetic;" but wary were they 
in attempting to strike a balance betwixt the supposed merits and de- 
fects of the whole, and pronouncing a decision on its general character. 
The public, therefore, took the matter into their own hands ; and as 
criticism had no effect in stimulating, so we believe it would have been 
found quite as ineffectual in checking, the enthusiastic admiration of our 
countrymen. 

"Waverley" was of an entirely distinct species of fictitious composi- 
tion from any that had ever preceded it. It was the first attempt that 
had been made to combine at once the real and the imaginative — the trans- 
actions of history with the incidents of individual adventure. In these 
respects, it was decidedly original both in conception and execution. 
Without aiming at an imitation of the graphic but gross and low-life 
scenes of Fielding, or the ludicrous caricatures of SmOUet, Scott kept 
quite as far apart from the fine-spun sentimentalism of their successors : 
and while he endeavoured to draw with equal fidelity with the two great 
founders of the British school of novelists, characters belonging to the 
humblest classes of society, he likewise sought for materials to interest 
and amuse amongst the polished circles and scenes of fashionable life. 

The chief professed purpose of " Waverley" was to illustrate the 
manners of the Highlanders of Scotland, at a particular period ; and 
with this view Scott judiciously fixed on an era of turbulent events 
which drew into their vortex all classes of men, and brought out their 
characters in all their various shades. Although feudalism had long 
been abolished by law, and actually annihilated in the lowland parts of 
Scotland, it still prevailed in all its pristine vigour of clanship and here- 
ditary chieftainship in the mountain fastnesses of the northern part of 
the island. The change, indeed, which had been gradually taking 
place in the habits and manners of the inhabitants in the former dis- 
tricts, had as yet served only to estrange them more and more from 
their still uncivilized countrymen, and to make the latter draw more 
closely around them the mantle of barbaric ignorance and pride. Ac- 
cordingly, amid the improvements that were rapidly going on in the 
manners and condition of society around them, those of the Highlanders 
remained stationary, and they even gloried in thinking that civilization, 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 267 

as Galium Beg said of Sunday, had not as yet come " aboon the pass of 
Bally-Brough." 

The prime cause of this disunion among the natives of two portions 
of the same island, was unquestionably the difference which existed in 
their respective political creeds, — the Highlanders, who were still for 
the most part staunch Jacobites, regarding the conforming of the Low- 
landers to the new dynasty of Hanover, as a species of apostacy only 
inferior in heinousness to a breach of fealty in a clansman towards his 
own natural chieftain. On this account, and not less as being the 
more immediate instruments of putting in force the new and severe 
laws for restraining their own turbulence, and executing the decrees of 
justice against them, the Lowlanders were generally regarded with 
even more detestation by the Gael, than were the Saxons or Southrons. 
In such a state of things, it may be imagined that little intercommunion 
took place betwixt the two former, and the mountaineers as yet re- 
mained an " especial people," whose manners, habits, occupations, and 
country, were almost totally unknown to the rest of mankind, — by 
whom, indeed, they were generally regarded as little else than a horde 
of incorrigible savages and unprincipled robbers. It will be seen what 
a rich fund of materials thus lay open to one of Scott's powers of de- 
scription ; and he judiciously tixed on the era of 1745 — which deve- 
loped so many noble traits of incorruptible fidelity, inconquerable 
valour, and devoted loyalty in the character of the Gael — as well to en- 
rich his pages with the interest attached to those memorable historical 
occurrences, as from its affording the fairest opportunity of contrasting 
the principles and habits which distinguished the various classes of 
persons which then divided the country. 

Scott was perhaps, above any other man then living, eminently 
qualified for such an undertaking. He had the whole history of Scot- 
land, established and traditionary, by rote. In his various excursions 
to the Highlands, he had enjoyed opportunities possessed by few, of 
making himself acquainted with the scenery of the north, and the man- 
ners and character of the rude mountaineers ; whilst from those who 
had been personally engaged in the cause of Charles Stuart, he heard 
accounts of many curious and romantic incidents and private adven- 
tures, and was made acquainted with the localities where they actually 
happened. Many of the latter he has woven into the tale with re- 
markable effect, and they tell the more forcibly from our assurance of 
their truth. 

One of Scott's informants on these topics, was Mr. Stewart of In- 
vernahyle, whom we noticed in an early part of our memoir, as having 
been out in the 1745 ; and the author has accordingly introduced one of 
that gentleman's private adventures in a manner that renders it one of 



268 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

the most interesting incidents in the tale. We aUude, of course, to the 
rencontre betwixt VVaverley and Colonel Talbot at the battle of Pres- 
tonpans, and the mutual good offices they rendered each other in that 
period of peril. As the whole plot, indeed, may be said to turn on this 
event, we think it proper, in this place, to introduce a brief outline of 
the original story. 

When the Highlanders, upon the morning of the battle of Preston, 
made their memorable and irresistible charge, a battery of four field- 
pieces was stormed and carried by the Camerons and the Stewarts of 
Appin. Mr. Stewart of Invernahyle was one of the foremost in the 
charge, and observed an officer of the king's forces, who, scorning to 
join the flight of all around, remained with his sword in his hand, as if 
determined to defend to the very last the post assigned to him. Mr. 
Stewart called to him to surrender, but only received a thrust of the 
sword in reply, which he caught in his target. The now defenceless 
officer was on the point of being cut down by a gigantic Highlander, 
(the miller of Invernahyle,) who had his battle-axe heaved up for that 
purpose, when Mr. Stewart averted the blow, and prevailed on his an- 
tagonist to surrender. Mr. Stewart took charge of his captive's property, 
protected his person, and finally obtained him his liberty on parole. 
The officer proved to be Colonel Allan Whitefoord* of Ballochmyle in 
Ayrshire, a man of high character and influence, and warmly attached to 
the House of Hanover; yet such was the confidence existing between 
these two honourable men, though of diflferent political principles, that 
while the civil war was raging, and straggling officers from the High- 
land army were executed without mercy, (as was the case with Mr. 
M'Donald of Kinloch, Moidart,) Invernahyle hesitated not to pay his 
late captive a visit, as he went back to the Highlands to raise fresh 
recruits, when he spent a few days among Colonel Whitefoord's Whig 
friends as pleasandy and good-humouredly as if all had been at peace 
around him. After the battle of Culloden it was Colonel Whitefoord's 
turn to strain every nerve to obtain Mr. Stewart's pardon. He went to 
the Lord Justice Clerk, to the Lord Advocate, and to all the officers of 
state in succession, and each application was answered by the production 
of a list of denounced rebels, in all of which Invernahyle had (as the 
good old gentleman was wont to express it) the "mark of the beast" 
opposite his name. Almost despairing of success, he waited on the 
Duke of Cumberland himself; but from him also he received a positive 
refusal. He then limited his request, for the present, to a protection for 



♦ Ancestor of Sir John Whitefoord, whom Burns, in one of his letters, says, was 
"' the first gentleman in the country who interested himself in his welfere unso- 
licited and unknown.'' 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 269 

Mr. Stewart's house, wife, children and property. This also was re- 
fused ; upon which Colonel Whitefoord, taking his commission from 
his bosom, laid it on the table before His Royal Highness, and asked 
permission to retire from the service of a sovereign who knew not how 
to spare a vanquished enemy. The duke was equally struck and 
affected at this circumstance. He bade the colonel take up his com- 
mission, and granted the protection he required with so much earnest- 
ness. It was issued just in time to save the house, corn and cattle, at 
Invernahyle, from the troops who were engaged in laying waste what was 
then termed " the country of the enemy." A small encampment of 
soldiers was formed on Mr. Stewart's property, which they spared 
while plundering the country around, searching in every direction for 
the leaders of the insurrection, and particularly for Mr. Stewart. 

Such noble traits of the human character are almost the only circum- 
stances afforded us to brighten the horrors of civil warfare. It was 
also from the perilous situation of the above gentleman, while in hidings 
that Scott took the incident in which the Baron of Bradwardine in the 
novel is represented as making a narrow escape with his life. Mr. 
Stewart was concealed in a cave so near his own abode, that he lay 
within hearing of the sentinels, as they called their watchword. His 
food was brought to him by one of his daughters, a child of eight years 
old, whom Mrs. Stewart was under the necessity of intrusting with this 
commission, for her own motions and those of her inmates were closely 
watched. With sagacity and adroitness beyond her years, the child 
used to mingle familiarly among the soldiers, with whom she was a 
favourite, and watch the proper moment for stealing unobserved into 
the thicket, and there depositing the small store of provisions she had 
concealed about her person for the support of her aged parent, at a spot 
which he had previously been advertised where to find it. In this 
scanty and precarious way Invernahyle was supported for several weeks, 
meanwhile suffering great torture from the still undressed wounds 
which he had received at CuUoden. After the soldiers had been with- 
drawn from his mansion, but still posted near it, he had the remarkable 
escape which Scott had assigned to Cosmo Cosmyne Bradwardine. 
Mr. Stewart ventured to leave his hiding place at night for his own 
house, whence he returned early in the morning. On one occasion, in 
the gray of the dawn, he was seen by a party of the soldiers, who fired 
at and pursued him. He fortunately escaped, but the soldiers returned 
to the house and charged the family with harbouring the insurgents. 
An old woman had presence of mind enough to maintain, that the per- 
son they had seen was the shepherd ; and when they demanded why 
he did not stop when called to, she replied, " He is as deaf, puir man, 
as a peat-stack!" The shepherd was immediately ordered to be sent 



270 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

for, but as there was an opportunity of tutoring him by the way, he 
easily succeeded in completing the imposition which the old house- 
maid had commenced. 

Mr. Stewart ultimately enjoyed the benefit of the Act of Indemnity. 
Amongst his other achievements, was one which few besides himself 
ever lived to boast of. This was his encountering Rob Roy, in a single 
handed duel with the broad-sword, and parting with him on equal 
terms. This duel is said to have been fought at the clachan of Bal- 
quidder, in the churchyard of which the bones of the celebrated free- 
booter now repose. 

Unless as regards the incidents above mentioned, Mr. Stewart of 
Invernahyle has no identity whatever with the owner of the " Blessed 
Bear;" and the general outlines of their respective characters are other- 
wise entirely dissimilar. The one is a pedantic but polished Lowland 
gentleman of the school peculiar to the middle of last century ; the 
other a rough, hearty old Highlander, (although courteous after his own 
fashion,) proud of his pedigree, his clan, and his tartans. The baron 
is represented as being a lover of peace rather than of war, but betaking 
himself to the latter, when he deemed it incumbent on him, with as 
much composure as he would sit down to breakfast. Invernahyle, on 
the other hand, appears to have been one who would take up a despe- 
rate cause for the simple reason that it was so ; and, as Scott tells us, 
he gloried, even in extreme old age, in the prospect of drawing his 
claymore against Paul Jones, when that daring captain menaced an at- 
tack upon Leith. 

We think it proper, at the very outset of our remarks upon Scott's 
novels, to notice a delusion under which all his commentators, or " il- 
lustrators," as they have been pleased to call themselves, seem hitherto 
to have laboured ; and which would be actually amusing, were the re- 
sults not at the same time somewhat provoking. Because Scott has 
chosen to avail himself of the occurrences of actual history in the con- 
struction of his tales, and frequently to introduce strokes of real indi- 
vidual portraiture in them, these writers seem to have taken up the idea 
that the whole of his scenes and characters must have been copied from 
actual existence. Accordingly, there is scarcely a house, a man, or a 
landscape, introduced in his novels, to which they have not assigned 
some particular and exclusive identity of situation, individuality or 
locality. In short, their great aim would appear to be to make him a 
mere copyist, and to impute the whole merit of his production to the 
readiness of his observation and the retentiveness of his memory. 
These men seem not to have had capacity enough to perceive that all 
the principal and almost all the minor characters, as well as scenes, in 
these novels, are really beings and things of Scott's own creation ; — 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 271 

although all the while perfectly consistent with nature. He has freely 
inserted grafts from every stock by which he could increase the beauty 
of the blossom or the richness of the fruit ; but the trunk of the tree 
was solely of his own rearing. In the work under consideration, for 
instance, the casde of TuUy Veolan has by one " illustrator" been set 
down as the prototype of the Lord Advocate's (Jeffrey's) abode at 
Craigcrook, within a mile and a half (north) of Edinburgh, while by 
another it is represented as literally taken from Traquair House in 
Peebleshire. Again, the Baron of Bradwardine is by many reckoned 
an exact copy of the old gentleman already mentioned ; while others 
identify him with Lord Pitsligo of Aberdeenshire, who bore the same 
rank in Charles's army, which Scott assigns to the baron, and who 
actually had for the supporters of his arms two bears proper. Davie 
Gellatley, too, has been generally set down as the alter ego of a crazed 
being called " Daft Jock Gray," belonging to Gilmanscleugh, the scene 
of one of the Ettrick Shepherd's ballads ; while there is scarcely a vil- 
lage in Scotland, we believe, which does not boast of an equally au- 
thentic prototype.* Nay, it is said that the original of Bailie Mac 
Wheeble has been so clearly recognised, that there are advocates (bar- 
risters) still living, who remember receiving fees from him ! — certainly 
as probable as interesting a point of recognition. 

Those individuals must have a very imperfect notion of Scott's genius 
who examine his writings in this manner. That he borrowed touches 
of description and character from most, if not all, of the above places 
and personages, we have reason to believe ; but it was the singular 
power of Scott's mind, that while he drew materials indiscriminately 
from every source within his reach, he confined his descriptions of scene 
and character to no one individual person or locality. A common 
novelist, in placing before his mind an actual scene or individual as a 

* Mr. Chambers, who was the first to draw a parallel between Davie and Jock, 
has, since the text was written, candidly informed us, that Scott afterwards personally 
assured him he had never seen or heard of Jock Gray, until the publication of his (Mr. 
C.'s)book. The discernment displayed by that gentleman in his "illustrations," (a 
very juvenile production,) in which he hit upon the actual originals of several ot 
Scott's characters, is astonishing ; and as he wrote it when the whole world was upon 
the r/wf t-ire to obtain some cue to the "Great Mystery," even his mistakes do not 
warrant us to include him amongst the host of notable illustrators who followed him, 
alluded to in the text. We have been much amused by the examination of another 
work professing to be of the same character, recently published in two volumes by a 
London house, in which almost the whole of Mr Chambers's volume has been pressed 
into the compilation, word for word, without the slightest acknowledgment of obliga- 
tion ! The editor, or editors, moreover, seem to have entirely overlooked Scott's notes to 
the recent edition of his novels, m which he has blown into the air many of the airy 
speculations and fanciful conjectures, which they have again so faithfully reprinted! 



272 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

subject of portraiture in one place, is unable to divest himself of the 
image of the original ever afterwards, and generally makes his subject 
as literal a double of it as the painter who is set to copy a particular 
landscape or countenance. It was the grand triumph of Scott's genius, 
that he could amalgamate, as it were, the peculiarities of many individu- 
als in a single character. In Captain Waverley. for instance, we find 
him drawing an exact picture of himself, in the account he gives of his 
hero's desultory course of early reading ; in a subsequent part of the 
novel the same person starts forward as the representative of old In- 
vernahyle ; and yet in this clashing together of different characteristics 
and adventures in the same individual, all is perfectly in keeping with hu- 
man nature, and formed into a consistent and probable whole. We have 
often thought, indeed, that there was a similitude of manner in the con- 
struction of his characters with that of his mansion at Abbotsford, in 
which there is to be found a gate-way from Linlithgow, a roof from 
Roslin, a chimney-piece from Melrose, a postern from the Heart of 
Mid-Lothian, &c. ; but blended together, certainly, with somewhat more 
deference to the rules of modern taste than is exhibited in that solecism 
in architecture. 

We confess we have never been able to perceive in what the great 
superiority generally assigned to " Waverley" over the succeeding 
novels consists ; and suspect very much that the novelty and freshness 
of the descriptions of Highland scenery, with the interesting associations 
connected with the era of the tale, has tended much to beguile readers 
into an exaggerated opinion of its merits. There is none of his novels 
in which there is such a remarkable contrast of style between any of 
their various parts as is to be found in the beginning and conclusion of 
"Waverley." The introductory chapters are evidently written with 
great care and deliberation, filed and polished to the uttermost. Yet 
there is nothing stiff or pedantic; and although entirely destitute of en- 
livening incident, there is a quiet dignity in the narrative, an elevated 
tone of diction, and a polished and gentlemanly current of humour, 
which is to be found in no other part of his romances. In short, we 
look upon these preliminary chapters as the finest model of composition, 
in the same line of writing, in the English language ; and Washington 
Irving has evidently taken them as a pattern in his " Bracebridge Hall," 
and others of his more admired writings. 

The subsequent parts of the novel again, after the hero's arrival at 
TuUy-Veolan, are thrown together with comparative looseness, and too 
evident unpremeditation ; and Scott himself confesses, that in none of 
his other works has he been so far guilty of the sin of carelessness, and 
modestly observes that, on this account, it was by no means worthy of 
the success it met with. The hero and the heroine (if we may term 



LIFE OF SHI WALTER SCOTT. 273 

Rose Bradwardine the latter,) although amiable enough persons in their 
way, are comparative ciphers, whether as respects their individual char- 
acter, or their connection with the story. Vich Ian Vohr is just such a 
polished, brave, fiery and ambitious chieftain, as we might be led to 
suppose from history presided over almost every clan in the Highlands 
at the above period. His sister is a character Avhich we reckon it im- 
possible, despite of her harp, her legends, her poetry and her raven 
locks, any one can admire or sympathise with, until she is seen making 
her brother's winding sheet in the gloomy apartment at Carlisle. There 
is something disagreeably repulsive and unferainine in this portrait, and 
one feels all along a sort of malicious wish to see the haughty pride and 
selfish ambition of herself and her brother humbled, if not punished, — 
and fearful, indeed, is the chastisement which at last overtakes them in 
the pursuit of their vain-glorious dreams. We question if there is in 
all Scott's novels, or any where else, a scene more fearfully, because so 
hopelessly, pathetic, than that in which Flora, while describing to 
Waverley how often she had contemplated the possibility of such a 
downfall to their hopes, and thought she had fully prepared herself for 
the worst, yet confesses how far all her anticipations had fallen short of 
the " unhnaginable bitterness of that hour!'''' The whole of this tragic 
part of the story is drawn with terrible power. The calm despair of 
Flora — the undying loyalty and manly firmness of Mac-Ivor — the de- 
voted fidelity of Evan Dhu, scorning to avail himself of the compassion 
of his judges, and entreating that the lives of himself and half a dozen 
more of his clan might be taken in lieu of that of their chieftain — the 
gloomy prison — the preparations for execution — all are depicted with 
fearful truth and efllect. 

The noble old baron is, we are inclined to think, one of the happiest 
conceived and best sustained of all Scott's characters. He is the same 
perpendicular, formal, pedantic, snuif-taking, Frenchified, kindly and 
polished old gentleman and soldier, in every scene, and under all vari- 
eties of circumstances and situation, — whether presiding over the hos- 
pitalities of Tully-Veolan with his poculum potatoriiim — reading the 
church-service to his troopers before the battle of Prestonpans, — or 
lying amongst his pease-straw in the cleft of the sandy rock. We think, 
however, he is placed in rather an unworthy situation at the conclusion. 
The stately old man was no fitting object of charity — by which 
means, or something like it, he regains possession of his estate, goods, 
and chattels, including the poculum potatorium itself, which, by the 
way, is recovered in a sufficiently apocryphal manner. He ought to 
have enjoyed indemnity both in person and estate for some act of gen- 
erosity or mercy during his short campaign ; and we have often re- 
gretted that the author transferred the credit of saving the Enghsh offi- 

2l 



274 LIFE OF SIR WxVLTEU SCOTT. 

cer's life from what we may term the real to the fictitious personage. 
But there is, indeed, too much crowding and huddling together of inci- 
dents and circumstances towards the end of the novel, and we get per- 
plexed with the manoeuvring about the restoration of the estate, — the 
fine-drawn delicacy of Colonel Talbot, and all the circumstantiality of 
details, from the gilding of Waverley's new coach and six, to the 
corpulent condition of Ban and Buscar. Every thing is just made too 
perfect, and suggests, as the old baron himself remarks, the idea of 
brownies and fairies in the realization of the denouement. The intro- 
duction, too, of the painting of Fergus Mac-Ivor and Waverley, is rather 
a modish idea, and, in histrionic phrase, seems too palpably to be got 
up for effect. In short, on shutting the book, one cannot help wishing, 
with Chateaubriand on a somewhat more solemn and important occa- 
sion, that the author "had rested a little sooner." 

In Davie Gellatley we have one of the happiest specimens of Scott's 
tact of mingling the result of homely observation with his power of 
creative fancy ; and of interweaving the ludicrous and the pathetic in a 
manner altogether his own. The general outline of the character is 
that of many a village fool besides Davie in the bounds of Scotland, but 
the author finely contrives to interest our feelings in his behalf, and 
also to account for his poetical turn, by the short tale of domestic mis- 
fortime he has connected with his history. " The poor creature had a 
brother," said Rose, " and Heaven, as if to compensate to the family 
Davie's deficiencies, had given him what the hamlet thought uncommon 
talents. An uncle contrived to educate him for the Scottish kirk, but he 
could not get preferment, because he came from our ground. He returned 
from college, hopeless and broken-hearted, and fell into a decline. My 
father supported him till his death, which happened before he was 
nineteen. He played beautifully on the flute, and was supposed to 
have a great turn for poetry. He was affectionate and compassionate 
to his brother, and followed him like his shadow, and we think that 
from him Davie gathered many fragments of songs and music unlike 
those of this country. But if we ask where he got such a fragment as 
he is now singing, he either answers with wild and long fits of laugh- 
ter, or else breaks into tears of lamentation; but was never heard to 
give any explanation, or to mention his brother's name since his 
death." 

It is by such little touches as these that Scott contrives to invest with 
deep interest a character which would be disagreeable, if not revolting, 
to the feelings of humanity, in common hands. For, barring the short 
tale of pathos thrown into the sketch, Davie is otherwise exactly the 
sort of half-idiot, half-knave that is to be found (to the disgrace of our 
nation to be told) going at large in every town, and almost every ham- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 275 

let in Scotland. He bears not the slightest affinity to those jesters so com- 
mon at one period in the families of our nobles, and with whom he seems 
most absurdly to be confounded by various commentators on these novels. 
The woof of wit is but sparingly interwoven with the weft of his folly ; and 
although his madness is regarded by the villagers with much the same 
sort of suspicion as the dumbness of the monkeys is said to be by the 
negroes in the West Indies, who think that the defect is only assumed 
by the cunning quadrupeds that they may not be compelled to work 
with their " fellow niggers," — this is the ebullition of mere envy at the 
superior comforts he enjoys, compared with themselves. " He Avas in 
truth," says Scott, "the half-crazed simpleton he appeared;" although 
Davie probably entertained no such derogatory idea of his faculties. In 
fact, these innocents are generally the first to laugh to scorn any impu- 
tation upon their soundness of intellect.* 

After the popularity of" Waverley" had set in with so strong a current 
as to bear down every thing like criticism upon it as a work of fiction, it 
became fashionable among these dictators of public taste to accuse the 
author of violating historical accuracy in his narrative, and of drawing 
the characters of the Adventurer and others of the Stuart cause in too 
favourable a light. In the notes to the late edition of the work, Scott 
has effectually cleared himself of this imputation, by quoting at large 
the authentic sources of his information ; and shows his only departure 
from fact is in appropriating to fictitious characters various incidents 

♦ The following is an amusing case in point, illustrative of this consciousness of 
mental superiority affected by many of these unfortunate beings. All our readers 
belonging to " Auld Reekie,'' will recollect well the poor fatuous creature called 
" Daft Jamie," who ultimately became one of the victims of the notorious Burke and 
his accomplices. Perhaps they will also remember another of the same kidney, named 
"Bobby Auld," whose confirmation of visage and cranium bore such a remarkable 
resemblance to those of the monkey tribe, to whom, besides, he seemed to have some 
affinity in the craftiness and trickiness of his disposition. Once on a time these two 
personages " foregathered" in the Grass-market, when the following scene took place- 
"A cauld day this, Bobby, — div'n ye think we wud be the better o' a drami" "Aye, 
Jamie, but how are we to get it 1" "I've got tippence, Bobbie, — what have ye?'> 
" I've just tippence, too, Jamie, so we'll can get a half-mutchkin." Accordingly they 
adjourned into a tippling-house for this purpose, and while the landlord was drawing 
the liquor, Bobbie observed — " I say, Jamie, did ye see the dogs fetching, as ye cam' 
in?" " No, Bobbie," answered the simpleton. " O', man, it's a grand fecht, continued 
his cunning companion, "Ye should go out and see it till the whiskey comes, or it'll 
a' be o'er. Jamie accordingly went out, but no fight could he see, and upon his return, 
found that Bobbie and the contents of the half-mutchkin stoup had vanished in the 
interim, leaving him with his " tippence" to settle the reckoning. The good-natured 
landlord, of course, only laughed at the circumstance, but observed to Jamie that he 
would surely thrash Bobbie when he met him for cheating him so. " Ou, what can I 
say to Bobbie, puir chield," answered the innocent with a smile of compassion — " Ye 
ken he^s daft .'" 



276 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

which actually happened in real life. As for inslsnce, in the case of 
Invernahyle, and the near escape which Flora Mac-Ivor made from 
the ball of the Highlander's musket. Tlie last-named incident actually 
befell a Miss Nairne, with whom Scott says he was well acquainted. 
As the Highland army rushed into Edinburgh in all the extravagance of 
joy consequent on the recent victory at Preston, Miss Nairne, like 
other ladies who approved of their cause, stood waving her handker- 
chief from a balcony, when a ball from a Highlander's musket, which 
was discharged by accident, grazed her forehead. " Thank God," she 
exclaimed, the instant she recovered, " that the accident happened to 
me, whose principles are known. Had it befallen a Whig, they would 
have said it had been done on purpose." 

Scott says — "Among other unfounded reports, it has been said, that 
the copy-right of " Waverley was, during the book's progress through 
the press, offered for sale to various booksellers in London, at a very 
inconsiderable price. This was not the case. Messrs. Constable and 
Cadell, who published the work, were the only persons acquainted 
with the contents of the publication, and they offered a large sum for it 
while in the course of printing, which, however, was declined, the 
author not choosing to part with the copy-right." 

" We have said that " The Lord of the Isles" appeared only a 
month or two after the publication of " Waverley." This by many 
was held decisive as to their being from different pens ; and the disbe- 
lief was confirmed by Scott's name being affixed to various other works 
which came out during the same year. In fact, it appeared, naturally 
enough, preposterous to suppose that an author who had for many 
years been unremittingly pouring forth works of such magnitude to the 
public, could possibly have found leisure amidst such a multiplicity of 
avocations to achieve a composition so remarkably striking and original 
as that of " Waverley." One of his other works, published in 1814, 
was an edition of Swift's writings in nineteen volumes, with an elabo- 
rate memoir of his life. 

It seems unaccountable how the name of Swift has been invested 
with such a consequence in the annals of English literature as seems uni- 
versally to be conceded to it. He has left behind him no work of his- 
torical, or even general literary, importance. All his writings seem to 
have been undertaken as a pastime, or to serve some political purpose. 
Neither was he by any means a profound scholar, and in fact he ridi- 
culed those of his contemporaries who aspired to that character. That 
he was a man of uncommon talent, and distinguished perhaps above 
any preceding or cotemporary writer for originality of ideas, is certain ; 
but he appears to have disdained the cultivation or exercise of his facul- 
ties farther than was necessary to serve some immediate end, and made 



LIFE OF SiR WALTER SCOTT. 277 

no secret of his contempt for literary fame. Perhaps it is this latter 
quality which has procured his memory such universal respect ; for it 
is a well-proven fact, that there is no surer passport to a literary reputa- 
tion, than to affect perfect indifference on the subject. Swift's great 
forte was his wit, or perhaps we should rather say his irony, of which 
there occur examples in his " Gulliver's Travels," " Tale of a Tub," 
" Argument against abolishing Christianity," " Proposal for eating 
Irish children," &c. that have no parallel in any age or writer. 

Upon the whole, however, the originality of Swift's character — his 
singular domestic history — his patriotic political efforts — and his inti- 
mate correspondence with Pope, Gay, Arbuthnot, and other remarkable 
authors and public men of Queen Anne's reign, render his biography 
one of the most amusing and remarkable in the cycle of our literature ; 
and Scott executed his task with such industry, vigour and judicious- 
ness, as at once to place his work as the standard one above all the 
other memoirs and collections of the Dean's writings that had previous- 
ly appeared. The speculation was rather a heavy one, it is true, in his 
publisher's (Mr. Constable's) hands, and for the same reason as was 
the "Life of Dryden" — namely, its enormous price; being at the rate 
of £9 19s. 6rf., plain octavo, and £15, As. royal. It is certainly much 
to be regretted that these admirable biographical sketches and other 
fugitive prose writings of Scott have never yet been published at such a 
price and in such a form as to bring them within the chance of general 
popularity. 

In the same year, (i. e. 1814,) Scott lent his popular name to a pub- 
lication (in two vols. 4to.) called "Border Antiquities," consisting of 
engi-avings of the principal objects associated with the traditions of an- 
tiquity on both sides of the Border, with descriptive letter-press ; for 
which he also wrote an elaborate introductory essay. This was a work 
after Scott's own heart, and for which he was admirably adapted. As 
its object, however, is chiefly addressed to the amusement of tourists 
and antiquaries, this circumstance, with the material accompaniment of 
expensiveness, seems to have prevented its ever being very generally 
known or read. 

In addition to the above productions of 1814, Scott also contributed a 
most learned and ingenious antiquarian essay to a work entitled " Illus- 
tration of Northern Antiquities," published under the charge of Robert 
Jamieson, Esq. of Edinburgh, and the late Henry Weber. The title 
of the essay was " Abstract of the Eyrbiggia-Saga," being the early 
annals of that district of Iceland lying around the promontory called 
Snae fells. The work in which it appeared contained much curious in- 
formation on the subject of Scandinavian Antiquities, and was intended 



278 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

to be continued in parts ; but it was dropped for want of encourage- 
ment, 

We thus find Scott appearing before the public as a poet, a novelist, 
a biographer, a commentator, and an antiquary — embracing a range of 
no less than six and twenty volumes — all in the course of one year ! a 
circumstance which exhibits a fertility and universality of genius, and a 
facility of composition, in the same individual, which is, we believe, 
perfecdy unparalleled. And all this, too, be it observed, the work of 
one who never appeared to his friends to be busy, but still kept his 
place as a social member of society ; a great part of whose time was 
necessarily occupied in the court of session ; who was busying himself 
with extensive agricultural improvements ; and who even found leisure 
to take a trip of a couple of months to the Highlands ! We observe, 
moreover, that he was at the same time throwing off occasionally little 
poetical pieces on various subjects. Amongst these was his well known 
" Song for the the Anniversary Meeting of the Pitt Club of Scotland," 
for that year. 

"O dread was the time and more dreadful the omen, 
When the brave on Marengo lay slaughtered in vain," &c. 

which, although few may noiv agree with the sentiments of panegyric 
conveved in it, comparatively with the period at which it was penned, 
all must acknowledge to be one of the most powerfully written of Scott's 
numerous lyrics.* 

* The first meeting of this club was held on the '28th May, (anniversary of Mr. 
Pitt's birth,) 1814 ; and we find Scott's name among the office-bearers. He composed 
another song for the occasion, which was likewise sung. As the latter is in a very 
different style from the above, or indeed that of any of his other lyrics, and as we believe 
it is nc* at all known, (at least we never met with it in any collection of Scott's poems,) 
■we are induced here to give a specimen. It is to the old Scottish tune of " For a' that 
:and a' that." 

"Tho' right be aft put down by strength, 

As man a day we saw that, 
The true and leafu' cause at length 

Shall bear the gree for 'a that." 
For a' that and a' that. 

Guns, guillotines, and a' that, 
The Fleur-de-lis, that lost her right, 

Is queen again for a' that. 

"The Austrian vine, the Prussian pine, 

(For Blucher's sake, hurra that,) 
The Spanish olive, too, shall join. 

And bloom in peace for a' that. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTEll SCOTT. 279 

It may be believed, from the great popularity of Waverley, that Scott 
had few misgivings respecting the propriety of following up the same 
course, and as his mind was richly stored with all the necessary ma- 
terials, he seems to have laid a new vessel on the stocks without loss of 
time. 

The source whence Scott derived the rudiments of his next tale, was 
one which only a mind like his, ever agape for information, whatever 
wind might blow it, and strongly predisposed to the marvellous, would 
ever have dreamt of availing itself of. A writer of an ordinary cast of 
genius, whose object it must be to please the higher and middle classes 
of society, (and to these Scott's readers may be said to have been as yet 
entirely confined,) would probably have dreamt as soon of applying for 
a fashionable suit of clothes to the nearest scarecrow, as of drawing the 
means of furnishing an entertainment for the titled and wealthy from 
the superstitious hallucination of an old, tippling, though honest, menial. 
But Scott was too earnest a hunter after information to despise any 
communication of interest on account of the vulgar or common-place 
medium through which it reached him. In our old Scottish phrase, 
" he had a crap (stomach) for all sorts of corn," by whatever hand it 
was scattered ; and, as an acute critic once said of him, it seemed to be 
the peculiar and admirable property of his mind, to digest all its food 
into healthy chyle. Indeed he has somewhere himself told us that he 
was never yet placed in any situation, or in any company, however 
dull, from which he could not extract something amusing at the time or 
useful to him afterwards. And so might all men say, did they conde- 
scend to pick up the materials of gratification and instruction which lie 
profusely scattered in the most common paths of life. But the gener- 
ality of minds are too reserved, or haughty, or indifferent, to stoop 
down for these ; and therefore is it we find so many who travel from 
Dan to Beersheba, and say "all is barrenness." 

It was from John Mackinlay, an old servant of his father, (and whom 
we noticed almost at the outset of our memoir,) that Scott heard the mar- 
vellous tale which suggested to him his next work, " Guy Mannering," 
— and the original story is certainly a novel and strikmg one^ resem- 

Stout Russia's hemp, so surely twined, 

Around our wreath well draw that,. 
And he that would the cord unbind 

Shall have it for his gra-vat !'' 

We offer these verses as a favourable specimen of this effusion,— from which one 
might almost be led to suspect, that Scott at that time became ambitious of attaining 
distinction on the Par;iassian heights of the High Street, or among the Arcadian 
bowers of the Cowgate !" 



280 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

bling, indeed, one 'of good John Bunyan's pious and metaphysical 
allegories, rather than an old superstitious Scottish legend. It is as fol- 
lows, — and old Mackinlay, be it observed, believed in the truth of it 
all, most religiously. 

Once on a time, a grave and elderly person was benighted while 
traveling through the wilds of Galloway, and with difficulty found his 
way to a gentleman's seat, where he was hospitably admitted. Con- 
siderable confusion prevailed throughout the household, and the owner 
apologised to the venerable stranger for any omission of courtesy he 
might experience, as his lady was then in the pangs of child-labour. 
The old man, upon this intimation, although disclaiming the profession 
of an astrologer, desired to be shown into an apartment where he might 
have a view of the heavenly bodies, and promised to cast the nativity 
of the child. He was accommodated with a suitable apartment accord- 
ingly, and spent the greater part of the night making his observations, 
when at a certain hour he sent for the parent, and conjured him to cause 
the birth to be retarded but for five minutes, were it practicable. This, 
however, it was found impossible to do ; and the child was born at the 
ominous moment. The astrologer then told the anxious parent, that 
by a singular conjunction of the planets, the child, (a boy) would be 
subjected to the operation of an evil influence about his twenty-first birth 
day, which would be the crisis of his fate ; and that if he conquered it, 
his life would be a long and happy one. He advised him to be bred up 
in the strictest principles of religion and morality, and preserved from 
all contamination with the world. It was ultimately agreed upon be- 
twixt them, that when the unhappy crisis approached, the youth should 
be sent to pass the ordeal that awaited him at the house of the sage, 
which was situated in the south of England, and of which he gave the 
address. Time rolled on: the child sprung up into boyhood — from 
boyhood to adolescence. The utmost care was taken, as advised, with 
his education ; none but the most pious people were allowed to be near 
him ; and his father was blessed in seeing him become all that a parent 
could wish. But as the youth began to approach the term of manhood, 
a remarkable change came over him. He became moping and melan- 
choly, sleepless and nervous, and both his mental and bodily powers 
seemed to be giving way, without any apparent cause. The sage, be- 
ing written to respecting these alarming symptoms, stated, that this 
fitful state of mind was but the commencement of the youth's trials. 
That he was suffering from the awakening of the passions, which he 
must be left to subdue in his own breast, in order to work out his pre- 
servation from certain and eternal destruction. The young man, mean- 
while, combated to the uttermost with his own feelings, but he seemed 
to be sinking daily into the depths of madness or despair. At last the 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 281 

period arrived for his departure to the sage's mansion, and as this was 
the first time of his being allowed to go forth alone into the world, he 
lingered so long by the way, gazing at all the novelties he saw, that it 
was in the afternoon of the day preceding the night of his birth ere he 
arrived at his destination — an antiquated and solitary old mansion. The 
sage received him with affection, but reproved him for his delay, which 
he said would increase the terrors of the coming night. As the hour of 
rest approached, the fated youth was made to perform his ablutions; 
and after partaking of some food of the simplest kind, was led by the 
astrologer into a remote apartment furnished only with a lamp, a chair 
and a table, on which lay a Bible. After solemnly conjuring the youth 
to hold fast by his religious principles, and keep steadfastly before his 
mind the great truths and promises of the word of God, the sage re- 
retired; and scarcely M'as the door closed when the recollection of all 
his sins of omission and commission rushed into the youth's mind, 
like a swarm of demons determined to lash his soul to madness. As he 
combated with these horrible sensations, he became aware that his ar- 
guments were answered by the sophistry of another, and that the dis- 
pute was no longer contined to his own thoughts. The Author of 
Evil was present in the room with him in bodily shape, laying before 
him his sins in all their darkest colours, and urging suicide as the 
readiest mode of escaping from the misery of his thoughts. As the 
fated and influential hour rolled on, the terrors of the hateful presence 
grew more confounding to the moral sense of the victim, and the knot 
of the accursed sophistry more and more inextricable. He had no power 
to explain the assurance of pardon from on High, or name the name in 
which he trusted. But his faith did not forsake him, and he resisted 
the Tempter until the clock told the lapse of the fated hour, when the 
demon retired yelling and discomfited. The young man was after- 
wards married to the sage's daughter, a beautiful girl, whom he had 
seen the previous evening, and the thoughts of whom had co-operated 
not a little with Satan's sophistry in distracting his thoughts from the 
contemplation of divine truth; and all, of course, ended happily. 

This is more than a mere superstitious legend; it contains, we have 
said, a fine moral, or rather religious, allegory, which might be wrought 
up with terrible effect into a drama by some of the masters of the Ger- 
man school, where the immediate agency of imps and devils, in influ- 
encing the fate of mortals, is still reckoned legitimate. We can con- 
ceive it to have made a fearful and indelible impression on Scott's 
young mind ; and he tells us, that the idea of constructing a tale out of 
the incidents of the life of a doomed individual, baffled all his efforts at 
good and virtuous conduct by some malevolent agent, but finally proving 
victorious in the struggle, long remained a favourite project with him: 

2ai 



282 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

nay, that the first two or three chapters of the novel were written with 
this intention. As he proceeded, however, he became sensible, as we 
believe every one else will be, that the subject was by no means a fit- 
ting one for a popular tale, such as it was his purpose to write. Ac- 
cordingly, he retained no more of the original tale than the incident of 
the casting of the horoscope ; and even that, many seem to think, 
would have been as well dispensed with too. 

From the purport of our preliminary remarks on " Waverley," it 
may be guessed, that we intend to enter into no minute and curious 
investigation respecting the originality of the scenes and characters in- 
troduced into its successor. They are avowedly part truth, part fiction 
— that is to say, six grains of the former to a bushel of the latter. But 
were we inclined to indulge our fancy, we could assign a much more 
definite identity to most of the persons, incidents, and scenes, in this 
work, than to those of almost any other of Scott's romances. The 
main locality is undoubtedly the northern banks of the Solway, some- 
where between the mouths of the rivers Nilh and Annan. We can sup- 
pose Mannering, after taking a sketch of the old castle of Torthorwald, 
and desirous probably of crossing the country in the nearest direction, 
towards the magnificent ruins of New Abbey, (or as termed of old, 
Sweetheart Abbey,) getting involved amongst the hags and flows of 
Lochar-moss ; and by holding wessel instead of easel, arriving at the 
ancient castle of Caerlaverock, (or EUangowan,) in place of the village 
of that name, — although at the present day, a wayfarer might as well 
alight at the one as the other, seeing that the wealthy and worthy pro- 
prietor of the domain* will admit not a single Mrs. M'Candlish to 
draw change, or sell a stoup of creature-comfort on his whole barony, — 
a circumstance, which all hunters after the antique will do well to pro- 
vide against. Scott mentions, indeed, that he has copied his descrip- 
tion of the " Auld Place of EUangowan" from the noble remains of 
Caerlaverock. The " New Place," however, has no representative at 
the present day, unless the small but comfortable abode of a worthy 
farmer, which stands close by, be taken as such. With respect to 
" Warroch Point," again, and the Bay, and the " Ganger's Loup," 



♦Mr. Constable Maxwell, younger brother of Mr. Marmaduke Maxwell of 
Terreggles, now claiming to be the representative of the ancient family of Niths- 
dale. The direct lineal male descendant of that noble house, however, (i. e. of 
the Lord Maxwell who escaped in such a remarkable manner from the Tower in 
1715, when both title and estates were forfeited,) is understood to be William Max- 
well, Esq. of Carruchan, whose elder brother, George Walter Maxwell, Esq. a 
young man of the highest promise, was drowned, while bathing in the Nith at 
Dumfries, some years ago — an event which spread almost universal sorrow over 
the whole south of Scotland. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 283 

all these are out of keeping with the scenery about Caerlaverock, 
where there is neither bay nor rock to be seen, and belong evidently to 
the wild and picturesque headlands about Colvenk, farther down the 
Solway. We know of no representative for " Portanferry ;" and 
" Charlie's Hope," the hospitable mansion of the inimitable " Dan- 
die," is evidently situated somewhere in the south, or south-east part 
of Liddesdale. 

With regard to the living characters in the drama, again, there is the 
same admixture of reality and invention. Scott has since acknow- 
ledged.* that the outline of the character of Meg Merrilies was taken 
from that of Jean Gordon, a renowned matron of the gipsy tribe, be- 
longing to Kirk Yetholm in Roxburgshire, the head rendezvous in 
Scotland, for ages, of that wandering tribe. He afterwards gave a par- 
ticular account of this heroine in one of a series of anonymous articles 
respecting the Scottish gipsies, which appeared in the early numbers of 
Blackwood's Magazine, (1817 we think); but the identity of their 
characters had been recognised by many long before the novelist him- 
self divulged the fact ; and the circumstance was frequently laid hold 
of by his friends, who, by means of abrupt questions and sly remarks, 
endeavoured to surprise him into an acknowledgment of the portraiture 
being the work of his hand. But Scott contrived to parry all such 
manoeuvres with the most admirable adroitness, and not unfrequently 
anticipated them by some general remark of his own. As respects the 
character of Meg, for instance, we have heard, that on one occasion, a 
few friends cunningly contrived to bring forward the resemblance be- 
twixt Meg and the actual gipsy as a topic of discussion in Scott's pre- 
sence, with the view of eliciting from him, either by word, tone, or 
look, some sign in proof of their suspicions. His perfect composure, 
however, entirely baffled them : and after seemingly a pause of rumina- 
tion, he remarked, " AVell, now, 1 would not be surprised if the author 
of the novel really had Jean Gordon in his eye when he drew Meg 
Merrilies." 

Jean had a large family of sons, all of whom came in due course to 
their respective ends in some manner befitting their vagabond and free- 
booting mode of life. One of her sons was murdered by another gipsy 
named Johnson, who escaped the hands of justice for nearly ten years ; 
but was afterwards apprehended, tried, and sentenced to execution. He 
contrived to escape, however, before the fatal day, and fled to Holland, 
but Jean tracked his steps with the steadiness and certainty of the 
sleuth-hound ; he took refuge in Ireland, but there she also dogged him 
—had him seized, brought back to Jedburgh and hanged. A farmer 

♦ Introduction to the last edition, 1829. 



284 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 

in the neighbourhood, meeting her some time afterwards, observed, — 
"So, Jean, you have got Rob Johnson hanged at last !" "Aye, gude- 
man," she repUed exullingly, " and a' that fu' o' gowd has na done 
it," — holding up the corners of her apron with her two hands. 

The rest of Jean's sons, it is said, to the number of eight, were all 
condemned to die on the same day at Jedburgh, — for what crime we 
have never heard. The jury, it seems, were divided in opinion, and 
were debating among themselves, when one of them M'ho had slept 
during the greater part of the previous discussion, suddenly awoke and 
exclaimed, " hang them a' — hang them a .'" — thus giving the casting 
vote for the condemnation of the criminals. Jean, who was present, 
only remarked, " The Lord help the innocent in a day like this !" 
Perhaps the 7nanner of their death was the only consolation the poor 
woman had for this wholesale bereavement; for the gipsies, like the 
Highland cattle-lifters — or " gentlemen drovers," as Evan Dhu Mac- 
combish termed them — seemed to have regarded the gallows as any 
thing but a disreputable mode of exit.* 

The incident introduced into the novel, of Brown, or Bertram, being 
lodged and protected by Meg Merrilies in an old desolate building near 
Derncleugh, was a real event in the history of Jean Gordon, and is de- 
tailed at length by Scott in the article in Blackwood's Magazine before 
referred to. We shall give a more abridged version of it. 

The tenant of Lochside, a farm nearYetholm, who had been always 
very kind to Jean and her tribe, had occasion to go to Newcastle to 
collect money to pay his rent. Upon his return through the Cheviot 
hills, he was benighted and lost his way. At last he espied a light 
glimmering through the bole of a lonely barn belonging to a ruinous 
and deserted suit of farm-offices, to which he directed his way and 
knocked for admission. The door was opened by Jean Gordon, whom 
there was no mistaking from her remarkably tall and commanding 
figure — being upwards of six feet high — and striking features — Jean 
set up a joyful shout of recognition, and insisted on the farmer dis- 
mounting and taking up his lodgings for the night — a request or com- 

* But what ean tljis end in, were he (Donald Bean Lcen,) taken in such an act 
of appropriation ]" 

" To be sure lie would die for the law, as many a pretty man has done before him.'' 

"Die for the law 1" 

" Aye : that is, with the law, or by the law : be strapped up on the kind gallows of 
Crieff, where his father died, and his goodsire died, and where I hope he'll live to die 
hiaisel', if he's not shot or slashed in a creagli." 

"You hoje such a death tor your friend, Evan 1" 

" And that do 1 e'en ; would you have aie wish him die on a bundle of wet straw in 
yon den of his, like a mangy tykel" — See conversation between Wavtrley and Evan 
Dhu. MoKumbinh. — Waverley, vol i. p. 18!), last edition. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 285 

raand which he had no means of disputing. Upon entering the barn 
he found Jean alone. She had been making great preparations for 
supper, and he observed that at least a dozen guests, of her own tribe 
doubtless, were expected. This was a dismal prospect to the poor 
farmer, who felt in imagination his cash — being almost every farthing 
he was worth in the world — slipping out of his pocket, if not the edge 
of a whinger across his throat. His fears seemed on the point of being 
realized sooner than he expected, for Jean instantly demanded what 
money he had about him ? The question, however, proceeded from 
a very different motive than he at first suspected. In short, she in- 
sisted upon keeping his purse for the night, as the bairns, she said, 
sometimes got out of her guiding now-a-days, and neglected the old 
gipsy law of respecting the property of their benefactors. Her guest, 
scarcely half satisfied with this explanation, had no alternative but to 
surrender his cash, the whole of which she took with the exception of 
a few shillings, remarking that it would be suspicious were he found 
traveling altogether penniless. After giving him supper, she made him 
lie down, but it is needless to say he felt little inclination to sleep 
About midnight the gang returned with their various articles of plun- 
der, and the poor farmer heard them recount their achievements in lan- 
guage that made him shudder. They were not long in discovering that 
a stranger was in the dwelling, and demanded of Jean who he was. 
" E'en the winsome guid man of Lochside, puir body," she answered, 
" he's been away to Newcastle seeking siller to pay his rent, but deil- 
be-lickit he's been able to gather in, and sae he's e'en gaun hame again 
wi' a toom purse and a sair heart," Notwithstanding this explanation, 
and the earnest remonstrances of Jean, they searched the farmer's 
pockets, but finding only a few shillings in them, they thought the 
prize not worth appropriating : and after a hearty carousal, all lay down 
to sleep. At daybreak Jean roused her guest, and escorted him some 
miles on his road homewards ; and at parting restored the whole of his 
money, nor would accept a farthing in return for her hospitality and 
fidelity. 

In the same article, Scott tells us of a similar incident as the above 
befalling his own grandfather. He was riding over Charter-house moor, 
then a very extensive common, when he suddenly fell among a large 
band of gipsies. They instantly seized on his horse's bridle with 
many shouts of welcome, exclaiming (for he was well known to them) 
that they had often dined at his expense, and now he must stay and 
share their good cheer. " My ancestor," continues Scott, " was a lit- 
tle alarmed, for, like the good man of Lochside, he had more money 
about his person than he cared to risk in such society. However, be- 
ing naturally a bold, lively spirited man, he entered into the humour of 



286 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

the thing, and sat down to the feast, which consisted of all the varieties 
of game, poultry, pigs, and so forth, that could be collected by a wide 
and indiscriminate system of plunder. The dinner was a very merry 
one ; but my relative got a hint from some of the older gipsies to retire 
just when 

' The mirth and fun grew fast and furious.' 

and, mounting his horse accordingly, he took French leave of his en- 
tertainers, but without experiencing the least breach of hospitality. I 
believe Jean Gordon was at this festival." 

It is pleasing to find such sparks of the primitive goodness of our nature 
breaking out even through the veriest darkness of moral corruption and 
depravity. The behaviour of this poor woman at her death also dis- 
played remarkable proofs of resolute fidelity and constancy of her prin- 
ciple ; and the circumstances attending it, moreover, seem to have sug- 
gested to Scott, in his " Heart of Mid-Lothian," (although neither he 
nor any of his numerous " illustrators" advert to the resemblance) the 
description of the last scene of Madge Wildfire's pilgrimage on earth. 

Jean was a keen politician and staunch Jacobite. Happening to be 
at Carlisle fair in the year 1746, the inhabitants of which town had 
then embraced the Hanoverian cause with as much readiness as they 
had opened their gates to the Highlanders in the preceding year, she 
openly taunted the rabble for their faithlessness in terms of bitter re- 
proach. The infuriated mob seized upon her, carried her to Eden, and 
there ducked her to death. But the operation was no easy one, for 
Jean, although then old, was still a powerful woman, and as often as 
she got her head above the water, she shouted out in defiance of her 
murderers, '■'■ Charlie yet ! Charlie yet V 

We shall have more to say, in a subsequent part of our memoir, re- 
specting the singular people to whom Jean belonged, who, in the early 
part of the fourteenth century, overspread Europe like a land-flood, 
coming no one knew whence or why, and who have preserved the 
secret of their origin, and even of their mother tongue with such sin- 
gular fidelity. We need only remark here, that their habits and appear- 
ance are not yet so much matter of history even in the Lowlands of 
Scotland, but that many will recognise from personal recollection the 
fidelity of our author's description of them. We have already noticed 
that Scott recollected of seeing a grand-daughter of Jean's, named 
Madge Gordon, in his childhood. 

Respecting another of the characters in Guy Mannering — Dominie 
Sampson — we have already given, in an early part of our narrative, 
somewhat irregularly perhaps, the affecting oudine of the original fur- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 287 

nished by Scott himself: — That he was actually tutor in the family of 
a gentleman of large but encumbered property and indolent disposition ; 
that death swept off all the sons of the latter one by one; debts in- 
creased and funds diminished, until he was roiiped out; and that he 
dropped down dead at the threshold, when about to remove from the 
house of his fathers, leaving an only daughter, now far advanced in 
life, penniless and unprotected. That the tutor, roused to the exertion 
of talents which he never before dreamt of possessing, opened a little 
school, and supported his patron's child for the rest of her life, treating 
her with the same humble observance and devoted attention, which he 
had used towards her in the days of her prosperity. 

In the tutor of the novel, however, we find that, as in all his other 
characters, Scott has pressed in traits from more originals than one. 
The dress, demeanour, and circumstances of the Dominie at college, 
are the exact counterpart of those of hundreds of poor country lads 
taken by their parents from the plough-tail and the hirsel, who doom 
them to a probation of schooling and starvation, in the hope of one day 
seeing " their bairn wag his pow in a poopit." Those of our readers 
who have attended the university of " Auld Reekie," must be familiar 
with the appearance of many a Dominie Sampson, in as far as regards 
the outward insignia of rusticity and poverty. This is a species of am- 
bition, we believe, peculiar to the peasantry of Scotland, and may be 
considered as at once a blessing and a bane to them.* If it manifests a 
high and salutary state of moral feeling on the one hand, the result of it 
but too frequently terminates in entailing a burden of misery equally on 
the parents and the unhappy being, who, disappointed in all his hopes 
and struggles for preferment or employment in the way of his profes- 
sion, has at the same time been rendered utterly unfit for resuming the 
homely labours from which he was unadvisedly taken — returning, in 
short, and lowering his ideas and deportment, to the humble duties of 
his original station. Many of our brightest ornaments in learning and 
science, it is true, have sprung from such a source, and it is the fatal 
error of the poor cottar that he looks only to these examples of success- 
ful genius, and flatters himself that his "own boy," for the sake of 
whose education he pinches and pares, rises early, and lies down late, 
eats dry bread, and drinks cold water, (to use the language of Scott,) is 
equally gifted by nature and disposition to prove a burning and shining 
light in his native land. There is much in all this that is to be regret- 
ted, in an individual sense, but there is also much that is pleasing and 

» Even to this day our rural population, like their fictitious but worthy representative, 
David Deans, regard a minister of the church as being an infinitely greater character 
than a lanJed proprietor, or indeed any other rank or profession whatever. And long 
may such a feeling obtain amongst them. 



288 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

elevating, nationally speaking; and he must be a bolder speculator on 
the subject of human economy than we are, who would express a wish 
to see this feeling of ambition eradicated from the minds of our pea- 
santry. 

But to return to the case in point. If Scott drew the private history 
and outward condition of the Dominie from the sources above men- 
tioned, we have pretty certain evidence of his being indebted to another 
original for his personal figure and appellation.* This was a young man 
named James Sanson, son of James Sanson, tacksman of Berkhill-side 
mill, in the parish of Legerwood, Berwickshire ; and his history is in 
the highest degree interesting and affecting. He received his early 
education at a country school, and afterwards attended successively the 
colleges of Edinburgh and Glasgow, where he became a profound 
classic scholar and metaphysician, and was equally distinguished for his 
retired and modest disposition. After being licensed, he was much 
admired as a preacher, but wanting interest to obtain him preferment, 
he was obliged to resort to the usual expedient of unpatronised di- 
vines — teaching — for a subsistence. Having saved the sum of twenty- 
five pounds, he conceived the idea of a pedestrian excursion into Eng- 
land, the greatest part of which he traversed ; and happened to return 
by Harwich, the sight of the Dutch passage-boats tempted him to take 
a trip to the continent. He travelled through the Netherlands, and a 
great portion of Germany, and returned with fully two-thirds of his 
twenty-five pounds in his pocket. It is supposed that he had been 
maintained, during his peregrinations, chiefly by the hospitality of the 
convents. After his return he became tutor in the family of the Reve- 
rend Lawrence Johnson, minister of Earlston, (Erchildoun) and after- 
wards in that of Mr. Thomas Scott, uncle of the subject of our memoir, 
whose family then resided at Ellieston, in the county of Roxburgh. 
Whilst superintending the education of Mr. Scott's children, he was 
appointed to the charge of Carlenridge (or Caerlanrigg) chapel,! apper- 
taining to the parish of Harwick. He still continued, however, to attend 
to the education of Mr. Scott's family during the week, and it was at 
this period he is supposed first to have been honoured with the denomi- 
nation of Dominie Sansom, which he afterwards bore. The origin of 
that of the tutor in the novel will at once be perceived by our readers. 
The subsequent fate of this poor man was peculiarly unhappy. He 
accepted the office of chaplain to the tenants of the Earl of Hopetoun at 

♦See "Chambers's Illustrations." 

t The present holder of this charge is the Rev. Henry Scott Riddell, author of the 
" Songs of the Ark," and many of the most beautiful lyrics in our language ; and 
who seems to have succeeded to the amiable simplicity and integrity of character, as 
well as the pastoral duties of his unfortunate predecessor. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. ogQ 

the mines of Leadhills ; the noxious effluvia of the mineral soon began 
to undermine his health, but his keen sense of duty made him persevere 
in his vocation. He first lost his teeth, next became totally blind, and 
death soon terminated all his earthly toils. He is said to have been a 
man of many amiable virtues ; simple, manly, faithful and affectionate . 
In person, he seems to have been almost the exact counterpart of his 
prototype in the novel — huge and clumsy in his limbs, and ludicrously 
awkward in his motions; but those who knew him forgot the ungainli- 
ness of the casket in the preciousness of the jewel it contained.* 

The character of Dandie Dinmont affords another instance of Scott's 
singular power of throwing the individual characteristics of a whole 
community into one portrait. When the novel first came out, all Lid- 
desdale was in a ferment, like a bee-hive in a sunny day, and much 
coy bantering took place among the "lads" respecting the individual 
amongst them entitled to the honour of representing the gudeman of 
Charlieshope. Perhaps we should rather say the opprobrium; for 
(will it be credited !) many amongst them, who thought the cap fitted 
themselves rather closely, absolutely expressed the highest indignation 
at being identified with a character which was in itself enough to 
redeem the ruined credit of a nation! General suspicion, however, 
attached to the late Mr. James Davidson, a tenant of Lord Douglas, as 
being Dandie's more immediate prototype, both from the striking points 
of resemblance in their personal qualities of blunt honesty, personal 
strength and hardihood, and from Davidson's being actually the owner 
of a family of terriers, of the generic names of Pepper and Mustard. 
Scott, in his late edition of the novel, so far acknowledges the truth of 
the conjecture, but observes, that there were, at least, a dozen of stout 
Liddesdale yeomen with whom he had been acquainted, and whose 
hospitality he shared in his rambles through that wild country, at a 
time when it was totally inaccessible save in the manner described in 
the novel, who might lay claim to identity with the rough but faithful, 
generous, and hospitable farmer. Mr. Davidson, Scott tells us, resided 
at Hindlee, a wild farm on the very edge of the Teviotdale mountains, 
and bordering close on Liddesdale, where the rivers and brooks divide 
as they take their course to the eastern and western seas. His passion 
for the chase in all its forms, but especially for fox-hunting, in the 

* Were we to imitate some of Scott's illustrators in drawingparallels between real 
and fictitious characters, from some similar traits or incidents in their history, we 
would find another original for the Dominie in no less a personage than Sir Isaac 
Newton! The circumstance of the Dominie's forgetting himself overa volume, when 
half-way up the ladder in the library at Woodburne, and standing there until the servant 
pulled him by the coat tail, and told him dinner waited, is taken from an anecdote of 
the same sort told by Swift of the great philosopher. 

2n 



290 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

fashion described in tlie novel, in conducting of which lie was skilful 
beyond most men in the South Highlands, was the distinguishing point 
in his character. When the tale on which these comments are written 
became rather popular, the name of Dandie Dinmont was generally- 
given to him, which Mr. Davidson received with great good humour, 
only saying, while he distinguished the author by the name applied to 
him in the country — where the surname of Scott is so common — "that 
the sheriff had not written about him mair than about ither folk, but only 
about his dogs." 

If it appear surprising to any one how these natives of the mountain- 
wild happened to fix with such accuracy on the real author of the novel, 
while all the rest of the world were soTar "abroad" on the subject, it 
must be kept in mind, that Scott was perhaps the first and only literary 
man of modern times at least, that had ever penetrated into their seques- 
tered vales, — a circumstance of which they were well aware. 

Scott tells us, that an English lady of high rank and fashion, being 
desirous to possess a brace of the celebrated Mustard and Pepper ter- 
riers, expressed her wishes in a letter, which was literally addressed to 
" Mr. Dandie Dinmont," under which very general direction it reached 
Mr. Davidson, who was justly proud of the application, and failed not 
to comply with a request which did him and his favourite attendants so 
much honour. 

In Mr. Davidson, we have one of the most curious instances on re- 
cord of "the ruling passion strong in death." This worthy man died 
in January 1820, after a long illness, during which he displayed the 
most sincere piety of mind and thankfulness for the religious counsel of 
the parish clergyman. One day, about three weeks before his death, 
the hounds of a neighbouring proprietor started a fox almost opposite 
his bed-room window. Although almost in extremity, his eyes glis- 
tened with pleasure the moment he heard the sound, and he insisted on 
getting out of bed to view the chase. With great diliiculty he crawled 
to the window, and there saw part of the fun, as lie termed it. When 
the clergyman called on him the same day, he said he had seen reynard 
once more, but had not seen his death. "If it had been the will of 
Providence," he continued, " I would have liked to have been after 
him ; but I am glad that I got to the window, and I am thankful for 
what I saw, for it has done me a great deal of good." If there appears 
something in this incident incompatible with the thoughts proper to a 
death-bed — and he knew he was dying — the concluding remark ought 
almost to reconcile us to the circumstance, as implying a cheerful ac- 
quiescence in the great change that awaited him. None but a mind 
reconciled to such an event could have felt himself done " a great deal 
of good" to, by obtaining a glimpse of the amusements which constitu- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 291 

ted so great a portion of his earthly enjoyment, and which he was per- 
fectly conscious he would never enjoy more. 

Respecting Counsellor Pleydell, it is said that his likeness has been 
distinctly recognised in the person of the late Mr. Crosbie, once the 
most celebrated pleader at the Scottish bar; but, we confess, Ave are 
utterly unable to discover this alleged identity, in as far as we have been 
enabled to obtain information concerning the character of that eminent 
counsellor. Mr. Chambers, who confesses himself a proselyte to the 
above opinion, has, in his " Illustrations of the Author of Waverley," 
given a pretty full, and we believe accurate, sketch of the habits and 
history of that gentleman; but the narrative, in our opinion at least, 
establishes rather the dissimilarity than the identity of their characters. 
Mr. Crosbie seems to have been a regular nightly debauchee ; even in 
the zenith of his fame, not unfrequently reeling directly from his cups 
to the court; and, upon one occasion, so far "left to himself," as to 
mistake the party by whom he had been employed, and absolutely plead 
the cause of his opponent. Pleydell is represented as being a man of a 
very different stamp; conforming somewhat, no doubt, to the jolly 
habits of the times, and occasionally playing at high jinks on a Satur- 
day evening; but by no means a habitual toper; always shrewd, clear- 
headed, and ready for business ; and the last man in the world likely 
to ruin himself by building a palace for a mansion-house, and launching 
into extravagances beyond his means of supporting, as his supposed 
prototype did. Crosbie was a man of great wit and humour, but al- 
most solely of those kinds adapted to the sphere of his profession, or 
the revels of a tavern; those of Pleydell, on the other hand, were more 
fitted for the drawing-room. With the one, in short, dissipation was, 
if not natural, at least habitual to an inveterate degree ; with the other, 
it was the exception, and not the rule, to his conduct; nor is there in 
his habits of thought or action the slightest trait indicating the probabil- 
ity of a consummation to his career, so dismal as that of the unhappy 
Mr. Crosbie, — reckless drunkenness, and its consequences — self-degra- 
dation, worldly contempt, poverty, starvation- disease, utter desertion, 
and death.* 

Mr. Chambers has, we think, been more successful in pointing out 
the original of Driver," — not, however, in the person'of Mr. Crosbie's 
Clerk, who, although of equally low and dissipated habits as he in the 
novel, is said to have been a man of fully as much legal knowledge, if 

* This unfortunate gentleman, who had been, but a few years before, the admired 
and courted of the first circles of rank, fashion, and learning in Edinburgh, was, it is 
said, so utterly deserted at his death, (in 1785,) that there was not a single friend or 
attendant near him to close his eyes ; and that the only persons who attended his funeral 
were a few strangers hired from the public street. — Elicu ! 



292 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

not also as much genuine wit, as his employer — but in a sort of hanger- 
on of that personage, and denominated, from his close attendance on his 
tippling patron, his Shadow. We are told, it was actually true that 
this individual, like "Driver" in the novel, could write as well and as 
quick, drunk as sober, — asleep as awake; and it was one of his fa- 
vourite jokes, that he meant to write out his will after death, and dis- 
pose of his legacies according to the demeanour of his relatives upon the 
occurrence of that mournful event. 

Of the scoundrel Glossin we need say nothing. Unfortunately there 
are but too many prototypes of his character among the votaries of 
Themis even at the present day; and it is to be feared too many El- 
langowans also for these worst of harpies to prey upon. We say this 
in all reverence to the Facully, the character of which it would indeed 
ill beseem us to impugn. To adopt the language of Jonathan Oldbuck, 
" in a profession where unbounded trust is necessarily reposed, there 
is nothing surprising that fools should neglect it in their idleness, and 
tricksters abuse it in their knavery." 

" Guy Mannering" was rated by the critics much below its prede- 
cessor " Waverley," on its first appearance. The story was less pro- 
bable — the incidents less natural — the characters less distinctly painted — 
in short, it was altogether a very inferior production, but still ob- 
serve, it was a work of very considerable 9nerit. It is very easy to 
perceive the reason of all this. Books are seldom, now-a-:days, judged 
of by their own merits, as in the days of Johnson, Addison, or Mac- 
kenzie. The language of modern criticism is chiefly relative, and 
consists almost solely in the instituting a comparison between the work 
in hand and some publication of the same nature which had previously 
been before the world, and upon which the public veto had been passed. 
When " Waverley" came out, therefore, these literary censors were at 
a loss what to say, — they had no previous standard to judge by, and 
like prudent men, they Avaited until the opinion of those whose taste 
they affected to direct should be heard. Their situation was a less 
uncomfortable one, and their course more evident, when its successor 
appeared. They had now an established precedent to judge by, and 
to work they went, drawing comparisons, and stretching parallels be- 
tween the various incidents, scenes, and characters of the two books. 
The result of this mode of critical investigation could only prove, as we 
have stated it did, unfavourable. The personages in the second work 
were all of a much lower gi-ade than those in Waverley. The critical 
exquisites could not brook the idea of being entertained with descriptions 
of the habits and adventures of gipsies, smugglers, fox-hunters, and 
such like scum of mankind; and reckoned it derogatory to their dignity 
to be introduced into such company. 

Admitting, as we must do, that the novel is pitched in a somewhat 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 293 

lower tone than " Waverley," we are yet ready to maintain, that in the 
ipain feature of it — the depicting of human character — it is, on the 
whole, scarcely inferior, and in some points superior, to its popular 
predecessor. There cannot be a more faithful, and therefore more me- 
lancholy, picture of human life, than the contrast presented between 
the youth and manhood of Mannering, — the gay, young, and sportive 
Oxford scholar, his imagination redolent of blissful anticipations of 
love and happiness, and his path of life stretched out before him in all 
the flattering hues of youthful enthusiasm — changed into the haughty 
and stern soldier, wealthy and renowned beyond almost his wishes, 
yet with all the early hopes of his heart blighted, and pursued by can- 
kering sorrows which are "a perpetual aloes in his cup of existence." 
In how many bosoms does not the picture find a similitude ! 

Julia, we confess, is no favourite of ours ; and we readily give her 
up with all her flippant and ill-timed petulance to the castigation of the 
critics. Nor is Lucy Bertram a personage for whom we feel very 
warmly disposed to put our lance in rest. For both these ladies, how- 
ever, every man who has mingled in general society can be at no loss 
to find many prototypes, — and so far the author is vindicated. 

On the other hand, the faithful dominie, honest Dinmont, the spruce, 
witty, gallant, and sagacious Pleydell, the pompous Sir Robert Hazle- 
wood, with his eternal triads — his deeming, and opining, and consider- 
ing — all are master-pieces. We shall never forget the feelings of 
indignation on the one hand, and admiration on the other, with which 
we witnessed the respective personifications of the faithful and aflec- 
tionate tutor by the great bufibon of the cocknies, Listen, and our own 
admirable Mackay. In the hands of the former the character was (as 
usual) that of a mere merry-andrew ; not a single amiable trait of the 
original was brought out; all was grimace, and floundering, and ab- 
surdity. In Mackay, again, the awkwardness and absence of mind of 
*the original are, as intended by the author, kept quite subordinate — a 
mere set-oft' to his better qualities. The scene in which the worthy 
creature declares his determination never to forsake the daughter of his 
"honoured master," whatever be her fate or her fortunes, is one of the 
most touching passages in all Scott's writings, and in the hands of our 
favourite actor it loses nothing of its pathos. " It is not the lucre — it is 
not the lucre (rejecting the proffered recompense for his services) — but 
that I, that have ate of her father's loaf, and drank of his cup, for 
twenty years and more — to think that I am going to leave her — and to 
leave her in distress and dolour, — No, Miss Lucy, you need never 
think it ! You would not consent to put forth your father's poor dog ; 
and would you use me worse than a messan ? No, Miss Lucy Ber- 
tram, while I live I will not separate from you. I'll be no burden — I 



294 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

have thought how to prevent that. But as Ruth said unto Naomi, 
' Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to depart from thee : for whither 
thou goest I will go, and where thou dwellest I will dwell ; thy peo- 
ple shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God. Where thou 
diest will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, 
and more also, if aught but death do part thee and me !' " 

But there is perhaps nothing in this novel that demonstrates so 
strongly Scott's philosophical and seemingly intuitive knowledge of 
human nature, as in the concluding scene of the desperado Hatteraick's* 
career. When reproached by Mac Morlan, for having concluded a life 
spent without a single virtue, with the murder of his accomplice Glos- 
sin, the wretch replies — ' Virtue ? — donner ! I was always faithful to 
my shipowners — always accounted for cargo to the last stiver.' He 
then occupies his last hour in writing a particular account of the fate of 
the vessel and other business matters to the mercantile house at Flush- 
ing, and thereupon deliberately hangs himself. This is a fine, though 
fearful illustration of the "soul of goodness in things evil." 

The observations of Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, baronet, 
(in whom we think we recognize the same original whom Allan Cun- 
ningham has gibbeted in his " Paul Jones" — it would be indelicate to 
surviving friends to speak more plainly,) respecting the encroachments 
of the democracy on the theretofore exclusive habits and privileges of 
their superiors, would seem rather more applicable to the present times 
than the period referred to in the novel. — " These are dreadful times, 
indeed, my worthy neighbour ! — days when the bulwarks of society 
are shaken to their mighty base, and that rank, which forms, as it 
were, its highest grace and ornament, is mingled and confused with the 
viler parts of the architecture. O ! my good Mr. Gilbert Glossin, in 
my time, sir, the use of swords and pistols, and such honourable arms, 
was reserved by the nobility and gentry to themselves, and the disputes 
of the vulgar were decided by the weapons which nature had given 
them, or by cudgels cut, broken or hewed out of the next wood. But 
now, sir, the clouted shoe of the peasant galls the kibe of the courtier. 
The lower ranks have their quarrels, sir, and their points of honour, and 
their revenges, which they must bring, forsooth, to fatal arbitrement !" 

One of the principal objections to " Guy Mannering," was the astral 
agency introduced, and the faithful fultilment of the mutual predictions 
of Mannering and Meg Merrilies, respecting the fate of young Bertram. 
Without attempting to vindicate the orthodoxy of judicial astrology, 
Scott, in his recent introduction to the novel, endeavours to justify the 

* This personage is supposed to be intended for a likeness of a famed smuggler, 
named Yawkins, who, about the same period, was the terror of all the revenue 
officers on the shores of the Solway. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 295 

employment of such agency, as being not only consonant with the 
general belief of the times referred to, but from the fact that the doc- 
trine even at the present day retains some votaries. He mentions, in 
particular, a remarkable case of a late eminent professor of legerdemain, 
who constructed a scheme of his own nativity, calculated according to 
such rules of art as he could collect from the best astrological authors. 
The result of the past he found agreeable to what had hitherto befallen 
him, but in the important prospect of the future a singular difficulty 
occurred. There were two years, during the course of which he could 
by no means obtain any direct knowledge, whether the subject of the 
scheme would be dead or alive. Anxious concerning so remarkable a 
circumstance, he gave the scheme to a brother astrologer, who was also 
baffled in the same manner. At one period he found the native, or sub- 
ject, was certainly alive ; at another, that he was unquestionably dead; 
but a space of two years extended betwixt these two terms, during 
which he could find no certainty as to his death or existence. The 
astrologer noted the remarkable circumstance in his diary, and con- 
tinued his exhibitions in various parts of the empire until the period 
was about to expire during which his existence had been warranted as 
actually ascertained. At last, while he was exhibiting to a numerous 
audience his various tricks of legerdemain, the hands, whose activity 
had so often baffled the closest observer, suddenly lost their power, the 
cards dropped from them, and he sunk down a disabled paralytic. In 
this state the artist languished for two years, when he was at length 
removed by death. " The fact, if truly reported," observes Scott, in 
reference to the preceding story — which is certainly quite as remarka- 
ble and incredible as that in the novel — "is one of those singular coin- 
cidences which occasionally appear, difiering so widely from ordinary 
calculation, yet without which irregularities human life would not pre- 
sent to mortals, looking into futurity, the abyss of impenetrable dark- 
ness which it is the pleasure of the Creator it should offer to them. 
"Were every thing to happen in the ordinary train of events, the future 
would be subject to the rules of arithmetic, like the chances of gaming. 
But extraordinary events, and wonderful runs of luck, defy the calcula- 
tions of mankind, and throw impenetrable darkness on future contin- 
gencies." Scott also tells us in the same place that he had recently 
(date 1829) been honoured with a letter from a gentleman deeply 
skilled in astrological mysteries, offering to calculate his own nativity ; 
but it was found impossible to procure the proper data for the construc- 
tion of a horoscope. 

But although our author thus seemingly avows his belief in the pos- 
sibility of such secret influences, he was very far from being a prose- 
lyte to that faith which attributes to a special destiny every action and 



296 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

incident of luiman existence; the tendency of which, were it once 
estabhshed, would utterly deprive man of that " free agency" which 
reason and religion alike assign to his character. No man was more 
sensible than he of the duty and efficacy of individual exertion in the 
construction of one's own fortunes ; or that, in the language of the 
poet, — 

" We are ourselves our own distress, 
We make ourselves our happiness." 

Talking with his lady one day about an individual who had been re- 
markably fortunate in life, which circumstance the latter seemed in- 
clined to impute mainly to luck, — " Ah, mamma ?" replied Scott, (by 
which title he usually familiarly addressed her,) " you may say as 
you like, but take my word for it, 'tis skill leads to fortune."* 

But we must pass on to another part of our subject. 

We alluded, in a previous part of our narrative, to Scott's excursion 
to France in 1815, immediately after the battle of Waterloo, and to 
two works, one a poem, the other in prose, the result of that journey, 
and which were published the same year, — the first in his own name, 
the latter anonymous. Of the poem we have already spoken, as being 
a failure ; but the prose volume was eagerly and universally read ; and 
as it was pretty well known who was the writer, it led the public far- 
ther and farther astray, respecting the authorship of " Waverley" and 
" Guy Mannering," the latter of which works appeared almost at the 
same moment. 

" Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk," for so was the work entitled, was 
well deserving of all its popularity, and presents in every respect one of 
the most pleasing contrasts which could be desired to the lucubrations of 
most of our modern tourists and travellers. It gives a most minute, 
yet lively account of the various classes of society in Flanders and 
France — their manners, occupations, institutions, buildings, agi-icullure, 
— in short, one would be led to suppose that the author had dedicated 
years of personal observation, study, and inquiry, to qualify himself 
for the undertaking. The plan of the work, too, is no less happily 
conceived than delightfully executed: the letters are addressed to several 
imaginary kinsfolk in Scotland, and the contents are varied so as to 
suit their different supposed tastes. For instance, his descriptions of 
the ladies, their dress, appearance, amusements, &c., are addressed "to 
his sister Margaret;" his observations on fortifications, stormings, bat- 
tles, &c. are " to his cousin the Major;" his political retrospects and 
remarks are for the benefit " of his cousin Peter," &c. We thus, as 

* This is exactly the Kunst niacht Gunst of Aldobrand Oldbuck. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 297 

it were, have a different style of writing in almost every epistle, and 
the interest of the reader is kept delightedly alive to the very last. We 
have a clear and succinct view of the state of public parties and public 
feeling in France and the Netherlands, betwixt the periods of Bona- 
parte's abdication in 1814, and his meteor-like reappearance in 1815; 
and we may mention, by the way, that he points out in the most forci- 
ble manner the absurdity of that most impolitic measure of the allies — 
the union of Holland and Belgium. His observations on this subject 
are indeed so strongly prophetic of what has subsequently proved the 
result of the experiment, as well as so just and philosophic in a more 
general sense, that we cannot forbear quoting a few sentences. " I am 
no friend," he says, " to the modern political legerdemain, which 
transfers cities and districts from one state to another, substituting the 
'natural boundaries,' (a phrase invented by the French to justify their 
own usurpations,) by assuming a river or a chain of mountains, or some 
other geographical line of demarcation, instead of the moral limits 
which have been drawn, by habits of faith and loyalty to a particular 
sovereign or form of government, by agreement in political and religious 
opinions, and by resemblance of language and manners ; limits traced 
at first, perhaps, by the influence of chance, but which have been ren- 
dered sacred and indelible by long course of time, and the habits which 
it has gradually fostered. * * * Either a general indifference to 
the form of government and its purposes has been engendered in those 
whom superior force has thus rendered the sport of circumstances ; or, 
where the minds of the population are of a higher and more vigorous 
order, the forced transference has only served to increase their affection 
to the country from which they have been torn, and their hatred against 
that to which they have been subjected. * * * It is certain, that 
this iniquitous habit of transferring allegiance in the gross from one 
state to another, without consulting either the wishes or the prejudices 
of those from whom it is claimed, has had the former consequences of 
promoting a declension of public spirit among the smaller districts of 
Germany. Upon the map, indeed, the new acquisitions are traced with 
the same colour Avhich distinguishes the original dominions of the state 
to which they are attached ; and in the accompanying Gazetteer, we 
read that such a city, with its liberties, containing so many thousand 
souls, forms now a part of the population of such a kingdom. But can 
this be seriously supposed (at least until the lapse of centuries) to con- 
vey to the subjects thus transferred that love and affection to their new 
dynasty of rulers, that reverence for the institutions in church and state, 
those wholesome and honest prejudices in favour of the political society 
to which we belong, which go so far in forming the love of our native 
country? ' Care I for the limbs, the thewes, the sinews of a man ?— 

2o 



298 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

give me the spirit !' and when the stipulations of a treaty, or the de- 
crees of a conqueror, can transfer with the lands and houses the love, 
faith, and attachroent of the inhabitants, I will believe that such aron- 
dissemenis make a wholesome and useful part of the state to which 
they are assigned. Until then, the attempt seems much like that of a 
charlatan who should essay to engraft, as a useful and serviceable limb, 
upon the person of one patient, the arm or leg he has just amputated 
from another." We will only remark upon the preceding observations, 
that it is to be lamented how seldom the opinions of statesmen and the 
measures of governments are dictated by the wisdom accruing from a 
knowledge of human nature, such as manifested by the writer. 

Scott's description of the battle of Waterloo is at once the most min- 
ute and intelligible, and at the same time animated, that has ever been 
penned of it, or perhaps any other. And here we may observe, that 
we can scarcely imagine a finer contrast, or what better exemplifies the 
versatility of his powers, than is presented in his account of it and of 
" Flodden Field." In the poem, writing as a poet, and of the chivalric 
times when individual prowess was almost the sole arbitrator of the 
field, he carries us headlong into the melee, and inspires us with all that 
reckless and heady enthusiasm which animated the living combatants 
on that "field of skulls." In his description of the latter, though not 
less memorable engagement, he lays down the mutual preparations of 
attack and defence, and the disposition of the two armies, with all the 
mathematical precision of a modern military tactician ; and we are made 
to regard the conduct of the v/hole battle — from the moment the clouds 
of Napoleon's cavalry advanced to the charge from the heights of La 
Belle Alliance, to that when 

" The desolator desolate, 
The victor overthrown" — 

put spurs to his horse towards the village of Genappe — with all the 
coolness of observation which distinguished the bearing of the two 
great commanders themselves on that eventful day. Scott had taken 
the greatest pains to collect the most authentic information from the 
most authentic sources, consisting chiefly of the testimony of the 
commanding officers on both sides who witnessed, without being per- 
sonally involved in, the hideous scene of carnage. His account of it, 
therefore, has all the recommendation of truth, enhanced by his in- 
imitable gift of description, and seasoned with many interesting indi- 
vidual incidents which his anxious researches enabled him to pick up. 
In other respects, the work is valuable in a historical sense, as giving a 
faithful picture of the internal economy of France and the Netherlands 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 299 

at the above period, and the appearance, productions, population, com- 
merce, &c. of the two nations. 

"Paul's Letters" were, like Scott's other works, from "Waverley" 
downwards, published by Mr. Constable, with whom he had already 
commenced that pernicious system of prospective payment for his la- 
bours, by bills and otherwise, which, almost unavoidably giving rise to 
a course of reciprocal accommodation, ultimately involved him in the 
downfall of that great publishing establishment. Of this mode of 
transacting business, the work we have been speaking of is an instance. 
Scott had got into the full (and we make neither hesitation nor apology 
for adding, foolish) career of purchasing, planting, and building at Ab- 
botsford, which, indeed, he had commenced almost immediately upon 
his removal thither. 

In a letter to the Reverend T. F. Dibdin, dated " Abbotsford, by 
Melrose, 3d May, 1812," occurs a passage which demonstrates suffi- 
ciently the promptitude and enthusiasm with which Scott set about his 
improvements on his recent purchase. He says, alluding in the first 
place to the sale of the celebrated Roxburghe collection of books and 
documents, the use of which had been of such material service to 
him in his antiquarian labours, and which was brought to the hammer 
in the same month — " The Roxburghe sale sets my teeth on edge. 
But if I can trust mine eyes there are now twelve masons at work on 
a cottage and offices at this little farm which I purchased last year. 
Item — I have planted thirty acres, and am in the act of walling a garden. 
Item — I have a wife and four bairns, crying, as our old song has it, 
' porridge ever mair.' So, on the whole, my teeth must get off edge 
as those of the fox with the grapes in the fable." 

Like Jealousy — Scott's rage for possessing and metamorphosing (the 
only appropriate term we can think of, though somewhat at the expense 
of grammar) seemed to increase by what it led on. Wing after wing 
was added to his house : plantation after plantation arose on his farm ; 
and farm after farm was attached to his property. The value of the 
land which he thus became possessed oi we have already noticed.* In 
fact, his purchases were, to use a modish phrase, the talk of the whole 
district, and that neither measured nor complimentary: it became a 
popular observation among (he rustics in that quarter, that they would 
wish for no oxxv^Xer fortune, than "just the length and breadth o' them- 
selves in land, within half a mile o' the shirra's house." 

It may be imagined, therefore, that Scott was continually in need of 
money to prosecute his plans, and on these emergencies he resorted to 
Mr. Constable, who, acting as a sort of literary pawnbroker, took the 

* It has been calculated tliat the present estate of Abbotsford, which scarcely 
brings in 700Z. a-year, must have cost tlie purchaser at least 50,000/. 



300 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

author's talents and popularity in pledge for his advances in cash to 
him. It was thus that in 1815, soon after the news of the battle ol 
Waterloo, Scott applied to Constable for a pecuniary accommodation, 
when the latter offered him 1000/. for some work upon that event. 
The proposition was agreed to, the money paid down, Scott set off to 
France, and the result was, the production of " Paul's Letters," and 
the accompanying poem entitled " Waterloo." Such is the history of 
these works, which we have got from what Ailie Gourlay terms " a 
sure hand." 

It would have been a blessing for all parties, had Mr. Constable been 
less accommodating to the author on these occasions ; for it was as- 
suredly the command of ready money which he thus possessed that 
induced him to launch out into those extravagant schemes which he 
carried into execution. But both author and publisher seemed equally 
intoxicated with the success of his works, and the nature of their deal- 
ings was perhaps without any parallel either in literature or commerce. 
Not to speak of the extravagant remuneration for books already before 
the world, and advances for books in progress, it afterwards appeared 
that large sums were granted for works, which, if ever contemplated, 
were at least never written or even begun. In the height of their ap- 
parent prosperity, Mr. Constable one day disclosed to a friend his own 
view of the way in which he stood towards Scott. " Scott," said he, 
with the humourous expression peculiar to him, " is just like Dr. 
Gillespie's cow. The cow was the first milker in the whole parish, 
but yet the doctor had to bring her to the market. ' Doctor, doctor,' 
said every body, ' what's making you sell your cow — her that gies sae 
muckle milk V ' I'll tell ye that, may be,' answered the doctor, ' at the 
conclusion of the market.' Accordingly, having disposed of his cow, 
and jogging home in the evening with his neighbours, he was requested 
to explain his reason for parting with so valuable an animal. ' Ou, ye 
see, gentlemen,' quoth the doctor, ' there's nae doubt my cow was the 
best in the parish, so far as giving milk was concerned ; but then ye 
maun tak' another thing into account, — there was deil ane that needed 
sae muckle meat. First, ye see, she took her ain meat — then she took 
Bruckie's — and then she would hae Hawkie's — and after a' she wad 
roar for mair !' That," concluded the bookseller, " is Walter Scott." 

But we have not yet arrived at the proper period for fully unfolding 
the pecuniary transactions between Scott and his publisher ; and we 
will, in the mean time, say a few words respecting the private history 
of the latter, up to the period we are now speaking of. 

Archibald Constable was born in the year 1778, at a hamlet on the 
skirts of Kelly Law in the " east neuk of Fife." His parentage was 
very humble, and his early education proportionately disadvantageous, 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 301 

but having shown a decided turn for books, he was indentured with 
Mr. Peter Hill, bookseller in Edinburgh — the friend and correspondent 
of Burns, and who is still living — with whom he served his appren- 
ticeship. About the beginning of the present century, he set up busi- 
ness for himself in an exceedingly small way." His shop formed part 
of the Royal Exchange buildings, next door to Allan's close, High 
street, exactly opposite the Cross — or " Mount of Proclamation," as 
Hogg terms it in his Chaldee manuscript. It was at first a mere box 
of a place, but as his business and stock increased, he enlarged his pre- 
mises by opening a communication with the tenements behind. He 
directed his attention chiefly to the collection of old and rare works,* 
for which, indeed, he had an absolute passion, and this circumstance 
soon attracted to his premises the numerous hunters after the curious 
and antique with whom Edinburgh was then rife, including Leyden, 
Heber, Dalzell, Scott, &c. Of this, however, we have before spoken, 
as well as of his commencing law-stationer, in which branch of his 
trade almost his only source of profit for some time was in the sale of 
Heinneccius' Pandects to the law-students. While yet struggling with 
, " poortith cauld," he engaged the affections of the daughter of Mr. Wil- 
lison, a wealthy printer in Edinburgh. This connection seems to have 
arisen through the medium of the Edinburgh Review, (started in 1802,) 
the pubhcation of which Constable was lucky enough to obtain, and of 
which Mr. Willison was printer. The old gentleman discountenanced 
his addresses, but the young lady consulted her own inclination ; and 
soon after the nuptial knot was tied, we believe, her parent became 
reconciled to the match, and, if we are rightly informed, gave his son- 
in-law considerable assistance in the world. f The publication of the 
Review, however, was the great means of helping him onward, and 
the little dingy premises became the rendezvous of almost all the literati 

* The sign above his door bore, in large characters, the words " Scarce Books." 
Shortly after setting up, and when his stock was perhaps somewhat akin in value 
to that of the apothecary in Hamlet, the public were amused one morning on 
finding the preposition "q/"" inserted betwixt the adjective and substantive, (by 
some wag during the night,) thus advertising to the world that the Bibliopole was 
" Scarce of Books." The joke was perhaps rather too just to be pleasant. 

t Mr. Willison, who read all the proofs himself, was most rigid in his ideas of punc- 
tuation, and used to occasion the Reviewers no little annoyance from his finical par- 
ticularity in that respect. A story is told of his having, on one occasion, sent to 
Mr. Jeffrey a second proof (technically revise) of a portion of one of his criticisms, 
with a note adhibited on the margin, "that there appeared something unintelligible 
in this passage." Mr. Jeffrey returned the proof unaltered, but with a counter- 
note to the effect, that "Mr. Jeffrey can see nothing unintelligible in this pas- 
sage, unless in the number of commas, which Mr. Willison seems to keep in a 
pepper-box beside him, for the purpose of dusting the proofs with !" 



302 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

of Edinburgh. Our readers will perhaps recollect, that it was here the 
curious fanciful scene Ijetween the ideal Captain Clutterbuck, and the 
Eidolon of the author of Waverley, detailed in the captain's letter to 
the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust, which forms the original introduction to the 
Fortunes of Nigel, is represented to have taken place. As both Mr. 
Constable and his premises are particularly alluded to in this humour- 
ous epistle, we will extract the passage more immediately referring to 
them. 

After alluding to the loss of an early and esteemed literary friend, 
the captain continues : — " To this great deprivation has been added, I 
trust for a time only, the loss of another bibliopolical friend, whose vi- 
gorous intellect and liberal ideas have not only rendered his native coun- 
try the mart of her own literature, but established there a court of let- 
ters, which must command respect even from those most inclined to 
dissent from many of its canons. The effect of these changes, operated 
in a great measure by the strong sense and sagacious calculations of an 
individual, who knew how to avail himself, to an unhoped for extent, 
of the various kinds of talent which his country produced, will pro- 
bably appear more clearly to the generation which shall follow the 
present. 

" I entered the shop at the cross, to inquire after the health of my 
worthy friend, and learned with satisfaction, that his residence in the 
south had abated the rigour of the symptoms of his disorder. Availing 
myself, then, of the privileges to which I have alluded, I strolled on- 
ward in that labyrinth of small dark rooms, or crypts, to speak our own 
antiquarian language, which form the extensive back settlements of that 
celebrated publishing house. Yet, as I proceeded from one obscure re- 
cess to another, filled, some of them with old volumes, some with such 
as, from the equality of their rank on the shelves, I suspected to be the 
less saleable modern books of the concern, I could not help feeling a 
holy horror creep upon me, when I thought of the risk of intruding on 
some ecstatic bard giving vent to his poetical fury ; or, it might be, on 
the yet more formidable privacy of a band of critics, in the act of wor- 
rying the game which they had just run down. In such a supposed 
case, I felt by anticipation the horrors of the Highland seers, whom 
their gift of deuteroscopy compels to witness things unmeet for mortal 
eye ; and who, to use the expression of Collins, — 

" heartless, oft, like moody madness, stare 



To see the phantom train their secret work prepare.' 

" Still, however, the irresistible impulse of an undefined curiosity 
drove me on through this succession of darksome chambers, till, like 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 303 

the jeweller of Delhi in the house of the magician Bennaskan, I at 
length reached a vaulted room, dedicated to secrecy and silence, and 
beheld, seated by a lamp, and employed in reading a blotted revise, 
the person, or perhaps I should rather say, the Eidolori, or representa- 
tive vision of the author of Waverley ! You will not be surprised at the 
filial instinct which enabled me at once to acknowledge the features 
borne by this venerable apparition, and that 1 at once bended the knee, 
with the classical exclamation of ' Salve, Magne Parens '.' The vision, 
however, cut me short, by pointing to a seat, intimating at the same 
time, that my presence was not unexpected, and that he had something 
to say to me. 

" I sat down with humble obedience, and endeavoured to note the fea- 
tures of him with whom I now found myself so unexpectedly in society. 
But on this point I can give your reverence no satisfaction ; for besides 
the obscurity of the apartment, and the fluttered state of my own nerves, 
I seemed to myself overwhelmed with a sense of filial awe, which pre- 
vented my noting and recording what it is probable the personage be- 
fore me might most desire to have concealed. Indeed, his figure was 
so closely veiled and wimpled, either with a mantle, morning-gown, or 
some such loose garb, that the verses of Spenser might well have been 
applied, — 

"Yet, certes, by her face and physnomy, 
Whether she man or woman only were, 
That could not any creature well descry.' 

1 must, however, go on as I have begun, to apply the masculine gen- 
der ; for, notwithstanding very ingenious reasons, and indeed, some- 
thing like positive evidence have been off'ered to prove the author of 
Waverley to be two ladies of talent, I must abide by the general opin- 
ion, that he is of the rougher sex There are in his writings too many 
things, 

' Q,ua3 maribus sola tribuuntur,' 

to permit me to entertain any doubt on that subject. 

It is curious enough to observe the correct conception which Scott 
entertained of the mysterious feeUng which pervaded the public mind 
respecting his own identity at this period, and the appropriate shadowy 
sort of language in which he speaks of himself. 

In the above premises Mr. Constable continued until the year 1822- 
3, when he removed to that shop, No. 10 Princes Street, now occupied 



304 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

as a coach-office. But his subsequent fortunes fall more properly to be 
noticed at a later part of our narrative. 

We come now to Scott's third achievement in his unknown charac- 
ter, which came out early in the year 1816. 

" The Antiquary" has been designated by its author as belonging to 
the same class of fictitious narratives as " Waverley" and " Guy Man- 
nerinff ;" in as far as being illustrative of Scottish manners during the 
last decade of the eighteenth century, as its predecessors were intended 
to exhibit them at two previous periods. As in them, too, but more 
particularly " Guy Mannering," the author selected his principal char- 
acters from among the humbler classes of society, who are the last to 
take on that polish which assimilates the manners of different nations. 
It may be questioned, however, if the change which took place in our 
national language, manners and character, during the space these works 
were meant to refer to (between fifty and sixty years) was so great as 
to admit of three distinct pictures being drawn of them. If it did, then 
it must be confessed that Scott has failed in presenting any striking 
contrast between the assumed eras, particularly between those of " Guy 
Mannering" and of the " Antiquary." Indeed, it appears to us, that 
the latter might, in this sense, have been the earlier work with perfect 
^propriety ; and, as f;ir as the heroes are concerned, we question if Jon- 
athan Oldbuck must not be reckoned a much more antiquated person- 
age than Colonel Mannering. On the whole, we are inclined to sus- 
pect that Scott's fanciful classification of these novels was entirely an 
afterthought, and that he had no intention of so systematising them 
during their composition. It is, indeed, one of the chief causes of 
Scott's excellence, that he could bind himself down to no set rule 
either in the design or execution of his romances, but roamed at free- 
dom through the thoroughfare of nature whether of scene or character, 
which change of circumstances may indeed modify, but can never en- 
tirely alter. And thus it is, that every attempt to draw a comparison 
between any two of his works has been found utterly vain. They be- 
long to no school but that of nature, and are as various in their character 
as man himself. 

" The Antiquary" did not immediately rise into popularity, (com- 
paratively speaking, but, if we mistake not, it will stand the test of in- 
vestigation with less danger from the captiousness of criticism, than 
almost any of its brethren. It is indebted to no adventitious help from 
uncommon and exciting scenes or incidents (if we except the adventure 
of Sir Arthur and Isabella on the sea-beach, and the death-scene of old 
Elspeth,) like "Waverley," or startling transitions of space and con- 
trasts of scene and grouping, as in " Guy xManuering." All its interest 
lies in character. We never get beyond a few miles from the paltry 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 305 

and uninteresting burgh of Fairport,* and all the personages would 
seem at first much of a piece with the locality ; but the author's know- 
ledge of life — his power of analyzing the human heart, and bringing 
out the minutest shades of character and disposition, equally engage 
our feelings in the narrative, and convince our judgment of its reality. 
There is, in short, more just and sober moral delineation in the Anti- 
quary, in our opinion, than in any other of his productions. It is said 
that it afterwards became Scott's own peculiar favourite, which predi- 
lection he testified upon the occasion of the sale of his manuscripts in 
1832, when Captain Basil Hall became the purchaser of that of " The 
Antiquary," which was perfect, for the sum of £42. Meeting with 
Scott, accidentally, at Southampton, some time after, the latter alluded 
to the recent sale, observing that his friend had become possessed of 
his most favourite novel, and offered to add a few lines to that eflfect 
at the end of the MS. Captain Hall, it may be supposed, was not 
slow to avail himself of the kind offer, and the preciousness of the MS. 
has accordingly been enhanced an hundredfold by the addition of the 
short testimonial. 

In none of the other characters of his works has Scott drawn so 
literally from individuals of real life, as in his Oldbuck and Edie 
Ochiltree — undoubtedly the principal personages in the novel. The 
former, he himself tells us, was at once recognised as being the proto- 
type of George Constable, Esquire, of Wallace-Craigie, near Dundee,! 
whom he frequently speaks of with great veneration, and whom we 
have before noticed as having been the first who introduced him to 
Shakspeare. " I thought," says our author (in 1827,) " I had so com- 
pletely disguised the likeness that it could not be recognised by any- 
one now alive. I was mistaken, however, and indeed had endangered 
what I desired should be considered a secret ; for I afterwards learned 
that a highly respectable gentleman, | one of the few surviving friends 
of my father, and an acute critic, had said, upon the appearance of the 
work, that he was now convinced who was the author of it, as he re- 
cognized, in the Antiquary, traces of the character of a very intimate 
friend of my father's family. I have only further to request the reader 
not to suppose that my late respected friend resembled Mr. Oldbuck, 
either in his pedigree, or the history imputed to the real personage. 
There is not a single incident in the novel which is borrowed from his 
real circumstances, excepting the fact that he resided in an old house 

* We must crave pardon for speaking thus lightly of " bonny Dundee," which 
is now a very different sort of place from what it was forty years ago. 
t This gentleman was no relation of Mr. Archibald Constable, 
t James Chalmers, Esq. solicitor at law, London, who died in 183L 

2p 



306 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

near a flourishing sea-port, and that the author chanced to witness a 
scene betwixt him and the female proprietor of a stage-coach very- 
similar to that which commences the history of the Antiquary." 

We have little to add to the above sketch, further than that Wallace- 
Craio-ie is within a mile or little more of Dundee, where Scott, when a 
young man, was a frequent visiter ; and notwithstanding the disparity 
of age between the host and his guest, they seem to have entertained a 
strong mutual regard for each other. 

The domicile of Mr. Constable has, we understand, fallen into decay 
since his death, and is now occupied by people of mean condition. 
We may also mention that the scenery along the sea-beach, towards 
Arbroath, corresponds exactly with the description given in the novel. 

The original of Edie Ochiltree was at once detected by many indi- 
viduals, to be an old mendicant, named Andrew Gemmels, well known 
in the Border districts during the latter half of last century, and of 
•whose history there are preserved many entertaining anecdotes, in ad- 
dition to those furnished by Scott himself in his introduction to the 
recent edition of the novel. It would appear that the novelist has been 
pleased to dignify him with the rank of " blue-gown" to suit his own 
fancy or convenience. Andrew had been a soldier in his youth, and 
fought at the battle of Fontenoy, (May, 1745,) and in personal appear- 
ance was the exact counterpart of Edie. The racy, sarcastic humour 
of the latter prevailed with even greater causticity in the original, and 
it would seem he was much more indebted to the general dread of that 
quality, than to the sentiments of charity or compassion towards him, 
for the hospitable reception he every where met with. We shall give 
one instance of his ready and satirical wit, which is highly character- 
istic of the individual. Andrew happened to be present at St. Bos- 
well's fair in Roxburghshire, where a modern Sergeant Kite, (in the 
person of the late Mr. Dodds of the war-ofFice,) was busy recruiting 
for fresh men for the American war. Dodds was a man of great elo- 
quence, and after a due flourish of drums and fifes, used to harangue 
the multitude in glowing strains on the pleasures of a soldier's life, and 
the honour and glory of the military character. On the present occa- 
sion he was particularly brilliant, and had just concluded an oration in 
flaming heroics to a crowd of gaping rustics who were fast kindling 
into the temper of mind which he desired, when Andrew, who was 
standing close beside him, reared aloft his meal-pocks on the end of his 
pike-staff", and exclaimed with a tone and aspect of the most profound 
derision, " Behold the end o'tT' The contrast between the beau ideal 
of Sergeant Dodds, and the reality of Andrew Gemmels, was irresist- 
ible ; and the former retreated in confusion with his party amidst the 
universal laughter of the multitude. Andrew throve in his profession, 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 307 

(which was then by no means held in such degradation as it is at the 
present time,) and he latterly rode his rounds upon a good blood mare. 
He used to complain, however, that begging " was a worse trade by 
forty pounds a year than when he knew it first." He was wont to 
attend all the fairs and horse-races in the Border districts, and betted 
and debated with the farmers and gentry with the most independent 
freedom. 

Amongst his other accomplishments, Andrew was accounted the 
best player at draughts (yulgo dam-brod) in Scotland. He was also a 
skilful adept at cards, and often played for a high stake Avith those who 
had cash to spare. Scott mentions that the last time a reverend friend 
of his saw Andrew, he was engaged in a contest at brag for a consider- 
able parcel of silver, with a gentleman of fortune, distinction and birth ; 
it was indeed reckoned not at all derogatory in any one, of whatever 
rank, spending an hour in card-playing or conversation with this singu- 
lar mendicant. Andrew died in 1793, at Roxburgh-Newton, near 
Kelso, being, according to his own account, 105 years of age. It is 
said that his wealth was the means of enriching a nephew in Ayrshire, 
now, or lately, a considerable landholder there, and belonging to a re- 
spectable class of society. Edie Ochiltree, however, is drawn in 
much more amiable colours than his archetype, Andrew Gemmels, and 
it grates harshly upon the reader's feelings to find the stately old man 
lapsing from the natural dignity of his bearing, and the independent in- 
tegrity of his character, into the drawling, hypocritical whine, and ur- 
gent solicitation of the mendicant. 

Respecting the German quack Dousterswivel, Scott tells us that the 
part of the narrative relating to him is founded on a fact of actual oc- 
currence ; and Mr. Chambers has very recently* pointed out the origi- 
nal, with singular ingenuity, in the person of Peter Stranger, or Japhet 
Crook, who lived in the reigns of Queen Anne and George I. This 
consummate knave has been, with other worthy compeers, condemned 
to an infamous immortality by Pope, who, in his Third Moral Essay, 
addressed to Lord Bathurst, speakmg of the value of riches — 

" What can they give 1 to dying Hopkins, heirs 1 
To Chartres, vigour 1 Japhcf, nose and cars ?" — 

in allusion to the latter having suffered personal mutilation for prac- 
tising an infamous fraud on an unsuspicious old gentleman, by which 
the latter was induced to execute a will in his favour to the exclusion of 
his natural heirs. It is said that the hardened wretch bore his punish- 

* See Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, April 20th, 1833— article "Land of Scott," 
ttoai the peu of Mr. R. Chambers. 



308 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

ment wilh the most cool indifference, remarking that " they might 
peel his head like a turnip — he did not care- — provided they left him 
his fortune ;" of which, by the way, it was found impossible to de- 
prive him. Previous to this, however, he had migrated into Eskdale, 
and by trickery and impudence similar to that of Dousterswivel, in- 
duced the then Duke of Buccleuch (son of the Duke of Monmouth) 
to enter into some large and ruinous mining operations. The " Glen- 
withershins," where these operations were conducted, was a place 
near the famed Johnnie Armstrong's Tower of Gilnockie, where 
there is still a hamlet termed, from Stranger's operations, the Forge. 
It is easy to understand why Scott did not enter very minutely into an 
explanation of this part of his narrative. 

The fearful death-scene of Elspeth Mucklebackit, is said to have had 
a precedent in a remarkable incident which happened at the funeral of 
John, Duke of Roxburghe, who died at London in 1804. An old at- 
tached servant, named Archie, who had the charge of his grace's exten- 
sive library, was himself, at the time of his master's death, in the last 
stage of a liver-complaint. He nevertheless insisted on accompanying 
the body to Scotland, but was so exhausted on reaching Fleurs, that he 
remained for some days in a sort of stupor. On the morning of the 
funeral, a particular hand-bell, which the late nobleman had, during 
life, used exclusively for the purpose of summoning Archie to his 
study, was heard to ring violently — by whom or what means could not 
be ascertained. The well-known sound roused Archie from his stupor. 
Sitting up in bed, he faltered out in broken accents — "Yes, my Lord 
Duke — yes — I will wait on your grace instantly ;" and with these 
words fell back and expired ! 

There are few of Scott's writings in which he so strongly displays 
that benevolent and kindly sympathy wilh the cares and toils of the 
poor and laborious, which we have before remarked as being a leading 
feature of his works, as in the " Antiquary." Witness, for instance, 
Maggy Mucklebackit's unanswerable retort on Monkbarns, when the 
latter, in reproof of her occasional attachment to a dram, hopes that the 
distilleries will never be permitted to work again : — " Ay, ay, its easy 
for your honour and the like o' you gentlefolks to say sae, that ha'e 
stouth and routh, and fire and fending, and meat and claes, and sit dry 
and canny by the fireside ; but an' ye wanted fire and meat and claes, and 
were deeing o' cauld, and had a sair heart, whilk is warst o' a', wi' 
just fippence in your pouch, wadna ye be glad to buy a dram wi't, to 
be eliding and claes, and a supper and heart's ease into the bargain, 'til 
the morn's morning?" 

And again, where the Antiquary, on returning from laying the young 
fisherman's head in the grave, finds the grufl' old father vainly endea- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 309 

vouring to repair the " auld black bitch o' a boat," which had swamp- 
ed with its crew, and congratulates him upon being able to make such 
exertion after so great a deprivation, — " And what would you have me 
to do," answered the almost desperate old man, "unless I wanted to 
see four children starve, because one is drowned? ifsweelwi' you 
gentles, that can sit in the house ivV handkerchers at your e'eji, 
when ye lose a friend; but the like o' us mmm to our wark again, 
if our hearts were beating as hard as my hammer.''^ Can a more 
startling lesson than what is contained in this one sentence, be read to 
the insensate and ungrateful sons and daughters of luxury ? It is unfor- 
tunately but too prevalent a doctrine at the present day, to identify 
aristocratic feeling with indifference and contempt to the hard lot of the 
poor ; but, however much the Baronet of Abbotsford might be predis- 
posed to the former, the latter charge can assuredly never be brought 
against the author of Waverley. The whole tone, indeed, of the novel 
we are now speaking of, is redolent of what may be termed popular 
feeling. Oldbuck himself is a staunch Avhig — of the old school — and 
the author, through his mouth, defends the principles of that political 
sect with a shrewdness and sagacity which are far more than a match 
for the abilities of any opponent he is made to encounter. He satirizes 
Sir Arthur's high church-and-state doctrines, after a most unmerciful 
fashion; and even reproves the Earl of Glen- Allan for the catholic hor- 
ror he manifests towards the prime movers in the French revolution, 
" because," expostulates Oldbuck, "a set of furious madmen had gain- 
ed for a time possession of the government." " The revolution," he 
continues, "might be likened to a storm or hurricane, which, passing 
over a region, does great damage in its passage, yet sweeps away stag- 
nant and unwholesome vapours, and repays in future health and fertility, 
its immediate desolation and ravage." And observe — wo reply is 
contrived to this remark: the Earl of Glen- Allan only "shook his 
head." No bigoted tory could have written thus, however much his 
personal bearing and public conduct would seem to warrant the belief 
of his being so. The whole spirit of Scott's writings, indeed, furnish- 
es a singular contrast to his political professions. 

" The Antiquary" was published in three volumes in 1816, and the 
public admiration of its mysterious author was becoming daily warmer, 
when behold! another mask, assuming the name of " Jedediah Cleish- 
botham," appeared almost simultaneously on the stage, under whose 
auspices four handsome volumes, entitled " Tales of My Landlord," 
in the same year issued from the Ballantyne press. The trick was 
dexterously played off; for in the preface to the Antiquary, the "Au- 
thor of Waverley" took a formal, and to all appearance final, leave of 
the public, as if politely making M'ay for a more worthy competitor in 



310 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

the person of the Schoohnaster of Gandercleugh.* The fact is, that Scott 
had seen so many instances of the piibhc gettingwearied of over-many and 
unremittent claims upon their favour from one quarter, that modestly dis- 
trusting the extent of his own resources, he began to reckon himself 
in danger of a similar fate. But his genius was too much for his cun- 
ning : and an attempt to draw a veil over the noon-day sun would have 
been as successful as to hide the effulgence of his own mind. The 
public had not read ten pages ere they saw how the matter stood, and 
so far from being dissatisfied with the unconscionable profusion of this 
literary Briareus, astonishment was only superadded to their admi- 
ration. 

This new class of productions consisted of two tales — " The Black 
Dwarf" and " Old Mortality." They are described to be the compo- 
sition, or compilation, of a Mr. Peter Pattieson, assistant teacher in the 
parish school of Gandercleuch, (a village, the description of which is 
supposed to have been taken from Lesmahagow, in the upper ward of 
Lanarkshire,) and edited after dis death by his superior, Mr. Jedediah 
Cleishbotham. " My Landlord" is the Boniface of the chief inn of 
the village, called the Wallace Inn, where Mr. Cleishbotham is in the 
habit of taking his daily potations. The quaint and pedagoguish in- 
troductions to the various tales by this worthy, are amongst the most 
amusing portions of them, — as the feet of a sheep are said in Scotland 
to be the best part of the head. 

The first of these tales, "The Black Dwarf," opens with a scene at 
the Wallace Inn, between a south country-store farmer, his confidential 
shepherd, Mr. Cleishbotham, his assistant, and the landlord. An inte- 
resting discussion takes place on the respective merits of long sheep and 
short sheep, in which the shepherd incidentally makes allusion to the 
Black Dwarf, about whom he tells various anecdotes, which Mr. Pattie- 
son afterwards throws into a connected form. The preliminary conver- 
sation about the different kinds of sheep was immediately recognized 
by the Ettrick Shepherd, on the publication of the tale, as being almost 
word for word the same as one which took place betwixt himself, Scott, 
and Mr. Laidlaw,t (then factor at Abbotsford,) and at once satisfied 

» The new works also came forth with the imprimatur of his former, pubUsher's great 
professional (and we should perhaps add political) rival, Mr. Blackwood, on the 
title-page. The copyright fell into Mr. Constable's hands, however, after the first 
edition. 

t Author of the well-known song " Lucy's Flitting," and other pastoral lyrics. He 
is a native of Peebles-shire, and son of the Mr. Laidlaw of Blackhouse, (Hogg's 
early master,) formerly mentioned as being Scott's frequent host and companion in 
his youthful Border raids. After Scott's removal to Abbotsford, Mr. William Laid- 
law was engaged by him as a sort of factor, and at one period — during his employer's 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 311 

him, he says, respecting the authorship of the tale. Hogg and Laid- 
law had begun a dispute about the value of the different sheep, during 
which many allusions were made to their respective lengths, a distinc- 
tion which was to Scott, as we believe it will yet be to many others, 
perfectly unintelligible. Tired at last of listening to a technical disqui- 
sition which he could not understand, he very simply asked what they 
meant by long and short sheep, as he never had observed, he said, any 
particular difference in the longitude of one sheep from that of another. 
An uncontrollable guffa exploded from the Shepherd at this remark — 
" It's the woo' I it's the woo', man !" he exclaimed, when he at length 
found breath, — and explained the mystery, exactly in the words of 
" Bauldie" in the novel. 

Respecting the unhappy hero of this tale, we presume the history 
and character of his archetype, David Ritchie, is now so universally 
known, that we think it superfluous to fill our pages with a recapitula- 
tion of them. Mr. Chambers, however, who is a native of the same 
district (Tweeddale) as David, has recendy given* in his Journal, a 
more full and interesting account of this unhappy being's character, 
history and abode, than had previously appeared, with many original 
anecdotes concerning him. Amongst the latter is an authentic account 
of Scott's first and only interview with the Recluse in the year 1796, 
which the writer received from the mouth of Sir Adam Fergusson, (son 
of the venerable Professor Fergusson, then residing with his family at 
Halyards in the vale of Manor,) who acted as Scott's cicerone on that 
occasion. The particulars of this interesting meeting are too curious to 
be omitted here. 

At the first sight of Mr. Scott, the misanthrope seemed impressed 
with a sentiment of extraordinary interest, which was either owing to 
the lameness of the stranger, a circumstance throwing a narrower gulf 
between this person and himself than what existed between him and 
most other men — or to some perception of an extraordinary mental 
character in the limping youth, which was then hid from other eyes. 
After grinning upon him for a moment, with a smile less bitter than 
his wont, the dwarf passed to the door, double locked it, and then 
coming up to the stranger, seized him by the wrist with one of his iron 
hands, and said, " Man, hae ye ony poo'er?" By this he meant ma- 
gical power, to which he had some vague pretensions, or which, at least, 
he had studied and reflected upon till it had become with him a sort 
of monomania. Mr. Scott disavowed the possession of any gifts of 

severe illness in 1818-19 — he actetl as his amanuensis. We understand this worthy 
man has lately migrated to the wilds of the north, as a store farmer. 

♦Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, 27th April, 1833, article "Hermit of Manor." 



312 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

that sort, evidently to the great disappointment of the inquirer, who 
then turned round and gave a signal to a huge black cat, hitherto unob- 
served, which immediately jumped up to a shelf, where it perched 
itself, and seemed to the excited senses of the visiters as if it had really 
been the familiar spirit of the mansion. " ^e Aos /;oo'er.'" said the 
dwarf, in a voice which made the flesh of the hearers thrill within them, 
and Mr. Scott in particular looked as if he conceived himself to have 
actually got into the den of one of those magicians with whom his stu- 
dies had rendered him familiar. " Ay, Ae has poo'er !" repeated the 
Recluse, and then going to his usual seat, he sat for some minutes 
grinning horribly, as if enjoying the impression he had made ; while 
not a word escaped from any of the party. Mr. Fergusson at length 
plucked up his spirits, and called to David to open the door, as they 
must now be going. The dwarf slowy obeyed ; and when they had 
got out, Mr. Fergusson observed that his friend was as pale as ashes, 
while his person was agitated in every limb. Under such striking cir- 
cumstances was this extraordinary being first presented to the real 
magician, who was afterwards to give him such deathless celebrity. 

David Richie died so late as December, 1811, being then upwards of 
seventy years old. A sister, a poor fatuous being who shared his 
seclusion for many years, survived till the year 1818, remaining in the 
solitary cottage alone in spite of all entreaties to remove to a more com- 
fortable abode. Her derangement increased much after her brother's 
death. The notoriety which her moorland habitation acquired after the 
publication of the "Black Dwarf," caused her much annoyance by the 
questions put to her by the idle and curious who flocked to the spot. 
" Will they no let the dead rest ?" she would mutter to herself after 
some of these interrogatory scenes : " What gars the folk spier sae 
mony questions about us ? Our parents were poor, but there was nae 
ill anent them." She was deeply aflected when told that her brother 
had been introduced into a play ; meaning that his fictitious representa- 
tive was brought upon the stage in the drama formed out of the novel 
by Mr. Terry. Her old acquaintance. Sir Adam Fergusson, paid her a 
visit soon after, and was saluted by her in the following terms : — "Oh, 
Maister Audam, is 'n this an awfu' like thing ? they say they' re acting 
my brother Dauvit in Lunnon ? Will they no let the dead rest in their 
graves ?" With that kindly and benevolent sympathy of heart, which 
was one of his most distinguishing qualities, Scott in his introduction to 
the late edition of the novel, expressed great concern at having uninten- 
tionally been the means of occasioning this poor forlorn object so much 
uneasiness. But he ought at the same time to have considered, that if 
he thus brought on her a little verbal persecution, the grievance was 
amply compensated by the pecuniary donations that were liberally 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 313 

showered on her by her interrogators, and which secured for her 
helpless old age many comforts which she would otherwise have 
wanted. 

The " Black Dwarf" is one of the least natural, most meagre, and 
altogether most unsatisfactory of all Scott's romances. It is infinitely 
inferior, we think, to "The Monastery," which seems generally 
reckoned the least worthy of his productions ; and we attribute the very 
different manner in which the two works were received mainly to their 
respective dates of publication ; the one appearing whilst his fame 
was in its first flush, and the appetite of the public eager even to glut- 
tony, — the other, Avhen it had become hypercritical from satiety. Hob- 
ble Elliot, the most prominent character in the story, (after the misan- 
thrope himself,) is somewhat of a caricature of the bauld borderer; and 
EUieslaw and his accomplice Sir Frederick Langley, are truly con- 
temptible personages. The getting up of a political conspiracy, too, 
solely for the purpose of extorting the heroine's consent to a detested 
union with an unprincipled villain, is a very far-fetched and clumsy con- 
trivance, and reminds us of the simile of a tempest in a tea-pot. The 
moss-trooper, Westburnflat, is the most graphic character of the tale, 
although the era wherein he " flourished" is perhaps too near our own 
times ; and the account of the termination of his career — when, after 
having enriched himself by a long life of pillage and robbery, he demo- 
lishes his stronghold, builds a substantial modern onstead of three sto- 
ries high — drinks brandy with his neighbours, whom he had formerly 
plundered — dies in his bed at a good old age — and has it recorded on 
his tombstone that he had played all the parts of " a brave soldier, a 
discreet neighbour, and a sincere Christian,"— is in Scott's happiest 
style of quiet irony. After all, however, the " Black Dwarf " is but 
an imperfect and interrupted sketch, having been begun with the inten- 
tion of its being made a much more bulky and elaborate composition. 
" The story," says the author, " was intended to be longer, and the 
catastrophe more artificially brought out ; but a friendly critic, to whose 
opinion I subjected the work in its progress, was of opinion, that the 
idea of the Solitary was of a kind too revolting, and more likely to dis- 
gust than to interest the reader. As I had good right to consider my 
adviser as an excellent judge of public opinion, I got off" from my sub- 
ject by hastening the story to an end as fast as it was possible ; and by 
huddling into one volume a tale which was designed to occupy two, 
have perhaps produced a narrative as much disproportioned and dis- 
torted as the Black Dwarf, who is its subject." 

Although the latter conjecture is more correct than the author him- 
self would perhaps have cared to be told, no one who rightly under- 

2q 



314 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

stands the quality of his genius will regret his following the counsel of 
his friend. Whatever the Black Dwarf might have been in other 
hands, as the hero of a lengthened romance, he is a character far too 
widely disunited from the sympathies of humanity for Scott's genius to 
expend its energies upon with freedom. He could introduce such a 
being on the stage, as one of the minor personages of his drama, with 
unequalled effect, but his mind revolted from tarrying upon such charac- 
ters as the principal figures in the group. He had too much of the 
kindly feelings of our common nature, and kept up too intimate an 
acquaintance with the active affections of social life, to allow him to 
dwell, like Byron, upon the malevolent diseases of the mind, and 
analyze with torturing minuteness the dark passions of the misan- 
thrope. 

Along with the " Black Dwarf," came out in 1816, another romance, 
in three volumes, for which we believe the author has received more 
praise and more blame than for any other of his productions. The pe- 
riod selected for the plot of " Old Mortality" may be designated as 
next to that of the Reformation in point of interest and importance in 
the annals of Scotland ; nor have the hearts and minds of our country- 
men, after the lapse of nearly two centuries, yet ceased to vibrate with 
the emotions and sentiments which influenced the actors in that memo- 
rable passage of our history. The motives of those who first offered 
violent resistance to their political rulers were the noblest which could 
animate the human breast, and future ages must still look back to them 
with veneration as the fearless vindicators of their civil and religious 
liberties. Never was the sword drawn in a more righteous cause, 
whether it were to vindicate freedom of conscience in the exercise of 
their religious devotions, or to resist political oppression. Scarcely had 
Charles H. been placed on the throne of his fathers, when — forgetful of 
the loyalty and hospitality of the Scots, who had sheltered him in his 
adversity, crowned him at Scone in defiance of his rebellious subjects 
of England, and supported his cause until the decisive battle of Wor- 
cester threw the whole kingdom into the hands of the Independent or 
Cromwellian faction — he endeavoured to force episcopacy upon the 
presbyterians, visiting resistance or noncompliance on their part with 
heavy fines ; and established a standing army to levy these impositions, 
the soldiers of which were not only authorized to exact free quarters 
wherever they went, but were allowed to plunder and oppress with the 
most complete impunity. In fact, Scotland may be said to have been 
at that period utterly at the mercy of these licentious tyrants. The 
people, who betook themselves to private conventicles for the sake of 
worshiping God according to their conscience, were, besides being 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 315 

fined, subjected to personal abuse at the brutal will of their oppressors ; 
their ministers thrown into the dungeons of Dunottor, Dumbarton, the 
Bass, &c., and many were banished to foreign climes. Masters were 
obliged to enter into bonds that their servants would not attend these 
meetings, and landlords to come under these engagements for all who 
lived on their estates.* But it would occupy volumes to detail the 
various oppressions to which the presbyterians were subjected during 
that black era. 

For nearly twenty years did the people of Scotland submit to their 
intolerable grievances, without any general demonstration of resistance • 
but the smothered fire at last broke out in 1666, at a small village in 
Galloway, where the peasantry rose against a party of dragoons, who 
were dragging some of their countrymen to jail, and treating them in 
the most inhuman manner. This partial insurrection was put down in 
the same year by General Dalziel of Binns, who overtook the insurgents 
at Rullion-Green on the Pentland Hills, and dispersed them, after cut- 
ting down between fifty and sixty of them on the spot, and taking many 
prisoners. From this time the sufferings of the presbyterians were 
aggravated in a tenfold degree. To Grahame of Claverhouse was com- 
mitted the command of the troops employed against them, who exer- 
cised his powers with the most relentless cruelty; and extraordinary 
functions were vested in the Privy Council of Scotland, who examined 
their victims by torture, and executed them without mercy or remorse. 
To complete their condition of hopeless suffering, James Sharpe, who 
had undertaken a mission to London for the express purjwse of plead- 
ing their cause with government, sold himself to their enemies, and 
returned in the character of Archbishop of St. Andrews. 

Such was the condition of the presbyterians prior to the opening of 
this tale ; and instead of surprise being occasioned at their once more 
resorting to arras to vindicate their rights as Christians and as citizens, 
their submitting so long to such iniquitous oppression is rather calcu- 



* The "Indulgence'' which has been so much rested on by the defenders of the 
persecutors, as a proof of the inchnation of government to extend protection and tole- 
ration to all who preserved their civil allegiance, was, in truth, one of the most insult- 
ing as well as inquisitorial measures adopted towards the presbyterians. Those cler- 
gymen who were permitted to avail themselves of this " indulgent act," were for the 
most part tools of the government, who acted as spies on their own parishioners, and 
pointed out to their superiors all who were supposed unfriendly to their authority. 
Scott notices this fact in the novel spoken of in the text, — see the scenes where Cla- 
verhouse reads to Henry Morton the character drawn of him by his parish clergy- 
man, Poundtext, wherein that reverend gentleman — afterwards his fellow-insurgent — 
fead returned him as one " triply dangerous'' to governmenL 



316 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

lated to excite wonder, — and would even expose them to the imputa- 
tion of pusillanimity, were the motives of their endurance not so well 
known to be of a very different character. Unfortunately, however, the 
first insurrectionary measure was the commission of a deed which not 
only estranged from the insurgents almost all the wiser and better dis- 
posed of their fellow-sufferers, lest they might be suspected of giving 
countenance to the act, but gave their oppressors too feasible an excuse 
for the severities with which they visited them. The apostate Sharpe 
was waylaid and slain on Magus-moor, in Fifeshire ; the actors in that 
tragedy fled to the Mdlds of Galloway, the chief resort of the persecuted, 
where the Avhole party assembled openly renounced allegiance to the 
king's authority both in church and state. It is at this time that the 
tale begins, the plot and details of which, down to the battle of Both- 
well-brig, where they terminate, it is unnecessary to trace out in these 
pages. 

We have often felt surprise that Scott — cautious, almost to timidity, 
as he has generally shown himself, in avoiding every topic likely to 
give ofl^ence either to individuals or communities — should have haz- 
arded his pen on such a subject as the persecution, involved as it still is 
in much of prejudice and irritating recollection. It is true that the 
Cameronians, whom he has brought forward most prominently amongst 
the oppressed, have now dwindled down as a body to an obscure rem- 
nant; but there were amongst the leaders of that sect, at the above 
period, men to whose undaunted courage the whole presbyterian com- 
munity of the present day justly look back as the noblest of patriots 
and Christians, and for whose sake they are ready to overlook much 
that was erroneous and perhaps blameable amongst their followers. 
Scott, therefore, was venturing upon perilous ground, nor did he escape 
altogether without reproach. No small outcry was raised when " Old 
Mortality" appeared, not only by the still existing body of Camero- 
nians themselves, but by some of the more zealous of the presbyterians, 
many of whose ancestors had belonged to that sect. Their complaints 
were soon put into form by the pen of Dr. M'Crie, the able biographer 
of Knox, who wrote several elaborate articles on the subject in the 
Christian Instructor for 1817, which were afterwards published sepa- 
rately in a pamphlet. The principal charges brought by him against 
the novelist were — gross partiality towards the persecutors, and unjust 
misrepresentation of the oppressed ; and in support of these accusations, 
the reverend doctor led on to the attack a whole host of authorities in 
the shape of " Vindications," " Defences," " Apologies," &c. Sic. 
which emanated either from the sufl'erers themselves or their posterity, 
with the formidable " Cloud of Witnesses" itself. No man can ques- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 317 

tion the purity or sincerity of the reverend doctor's motives in these 
strictures, or the ability with which he chastises the race of light-hearted 
scoffers, who are so abundant at the present day ; but it must be con- 
fessed, even by his warmest admirers, that his zeal was somewhat mis- 
placed, and that he has treated the novelist with an acrimony quite un- 
justified by the ostensible occasion. He seems to have assumed Scott 
as the mouth-piece of all the revilers of the covenanters, since the battle 
of Bothwell-bridge, and launches against him as an individual the thun- 
ders which should be directed against an ungrateful and irreverent pos- 
terity. Nor can he be acquitted of much unfair illiberality of criticism. 
He capriciously selects from the novel sentiments which fall from vari- 
ous of the cavaliers, which he gratuitously assumes to be the author's 
private opinions ; and quotes the scripture-larded slang of the more 
ignorant and fanatical of the insurgents, as being an intended sample of 
the characteristic language of the whole presbyterian sect ! The critic, 
moreover, is seemingly unable to express the extremity of his indig- 
nation at our author's giving to Claverhouse a pleasing form, a fine set 
of features, and a winning address ; as if all these attributes, and many 
others of a far more estimable quality, had not been assigned him by 
nature, but invented by the novelist to seduce our hearts from the con- 
templation of his cruel disposition ! All this is very absurd, to say the 
least of it ; and we feel convinced, that in proportion as posterity is 
enabled to judge more coolly of the events and characters of that un- 
happy era, so will Scott be acquitted of prejudice in his delineation of 
them. It is, at least, in the highest degree unjust to charge him with 
any leaning towards the measures or agents of Charles's government. 
The former he denounces in the most unequivocal terms, and the latter 
he exhibits in colours which make the blood boil with indignation. 
The fine person and gallant demeanour of Claverhouse only render the 
picture of his remorseless cruelty of disposition, his insatiable thirst for 
slaughter, the more hideous and revolting i while not one redeeming 
stroke of the pencil is given to palliate the brutality of Lauderdale, the 
wolfish fierceness of Dalziel, and the vulgar insolence of Bothwell. 

Scott's chief errors in this tale appear to us to be the following : — In 
the first place, he has given no sketch of the actual condition of the pres- 
byterians at the time he treats of, or of the causes that literally drove 
them into measures of self-defence and retaliation. He tells us nothing 
of the unparalleled oppression, the persecution, the tortures, which they 
had for nineteen long years patiently endured, in their aversion to shed 
blood and to becoming their own avengers, — of their being driven into 
the wilderness, and hunted down like wild beasts, — of parents and chil- 
dren compelled to become each other's accusers, or massacred for re- 



318 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 

fusing, — of freemen being shipped off as slaves to our colonies, or 
driven to madness by cold, famine, and terror in the dreary dungeons of 
the Bass ; — ^nothing of all this, we say, is presented to our eye, and it 
is of course only those already well acquainted with the history of those 
times who can make allowance for that fierce and revengeful fanati- 
cism — the offspring of persecution — which was, in too many instances, 
manifested by the adherents of the Covenant. This we reckon a great 
and unpardonable fault in the author, — the more so, that a retrospective 
sketch such as we speak of, might have been introduced, not only with 
ease, but with powerful effect, into the mouth of Macbriar, or some of 
the other zealous but more rational preachers, instead of the prolix 
absurdities of Kettledrummle, or the insane ravings of Habbakuk Muc- 
klewrath. The second fault, and which is partly a natural consequent 
of the first, is, that almost none but the fanatical and disputatious of the 
covenanting sect are brought prominently forward, thus leaving it to be 
inferred, that the author intended them as an average specimen of the 
whole presbyterian host. Scott, indeed, seems to have fallen into an 
historical error in representing the majority of the insurgents as consist- 
ing of Cameronians. On the contrary, they formed a very small pro- 
portion of their body ; and there were numbers who, without the 
slightest wish for overturning the king's civil authority, were anxious 
only for simple toleration to exercise their spiritual privileges according 
to their conscience. 

At the same time, we believe we may assert, that the novelist has 
introduced no character into his work which had not one, if not many 
archetypes amongst the presbyterians of that period. If we turn up 
some of the sermons preached and printed at that time, we will find many 
passages far surpassing in extravagance any thing which falls from Ket- 
tledrummle, or Poundtext, or Macbriar, — although we are far from jus- 
tifying Scott for inventing similar rhapsodies. We will give a short 
extract from one of these effusions as a specimen of the popular scrip- 
tural oratory amongst the Cameronians of that day : 

" There is many folk that has a face to the religion that is in fashion, 
and there is many folk have ay a face to the old company ; they have a 
face for godly folk, and they have a face for persecutors of godly folk ; 
and they will be daddie's bairns and minnie's bairns baith ! and they 
will be prelate's bairns, and they will be malignant's bairns, and they 
will be the people of God's bairns ! And what think ye of that bastard 
temper? Poor Peter had a trial of this soupleness ; but God made Paul 
take him by the neck and shake this soupleness from him ; and O 
that God would take us by the neck and shake our soupleness from us ! 
* # # # Anti Qm- old job-trot ministers hae turned curates, and our 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 319 

old job-trot professors is joined with them ; and now this way God has 
turned them inside out, and has made it manifest ; and when their heart 
is hanging upon this braw, I will not give a grey groat for them and 
their profession both ! The devil has the ministers and professors of 
Scotland now in a sieve, and O as he sifts ! and as he riddles ! and 
O as he jrattles ! and O the chaff he gets ! And 1 fear there will be 
more chafT nor there be good corn, and that will be found amang us or 
all be done ; but the soul-confirmed man leaves ever the devil at two 
more ; and he has ay the matter gauged, and leaves ay the devil at the 
leeside !" &c. &c. 

Such were the sort of vituperative philippics which the Cameronians 
vented against their moderate brethren, whom they characterised as 
Erastian and time-serving, because the latter prudently refrained from 
standing out on certain abstract points of profession and ceremonial 
which might produce unnecessary collision with the government. These 
intolerant men, in short, disowned all authority or brotherhood what- 
ever, not under the tie of the solemn league and covenant; and the 
hopes of re-establishing that old national engagement frequently led 
them — as in the case of Burley with Claverhouse, in the novel — into 
the most preposterous and unprincipled alliances with their mortal ene- 
mies the Jacobites and other incendiaries, interested only in disturbing 
the newly established government. As the greater part of the Camero- 
nian congregation were gathered from the lower and more ignorant 
portion of the community, they naturally aped the colloquial scriptural 
jargon of their instructors, and Scott has given a most graphic spe- 
cimen of that class in the person of old Mause, whom, notwithstand- 
ing all her cant and ill timed displays of biblical knowledge, we 
are nevertheless compelled to respect for her fearless steadfastness of 
principle. 

Balfour of Burley is made a better man in the novel that what he 
was in reality. Unscrupulous as he is represented to have been respect- 
ing the means of accomplishing his purposes, we are willing to make 
great allowances in consideration of his conscientious religious zeal, 
which is assigned as the prhnmn mobile of all his actions, good or bad. 
But cotemporary historians represent him as the reverse of a religious 
man in private life, and only trusted for his resolution, strength, and 
skill as a soldier.* 



* This man did not die in the manner represented in the novel. He went to Hol- 
land after the battle of Bothwell Bridge, where his restless and ambitious mind soon 
organized another plan of insurrection in his native country, in returning to execute 
which, he died during the voyage. 



320 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

On the whole, if we except the two sins of omission rather than of 
commission, above stated, we cannot see that the descendants of the 
Covenanters have much reason to complain of Scott's picture of them 
in " Old Mortality." Morton (one of the best of all his heroes) is an 
admirable set-oft' to the reckless and bigoted fanatics with whom he is 
associated, and is amongst his own party what the amiable Lord Evan- 
dale is amongst the cavaliers. Bessie Maclure, the poor, destitute, but 
benevolent widow, is an excellent qualification to the fiery and re- 
doubted Mause. And Macbriar — the high-minded — the undaunted — the 
rejoicing martyr, Macbriar, — welcoming the gibbet with a countenance 
"radiant with joy and triumph," and showering blessings on the tor- 
tures of his mangled frame — he is a character in which the absurdities 
of Poundtext, Kettledrummle, Mucklewrath and the rest, are completely 
forgotten. 

Scott nevertheless found it necessary to notice the clamour that was 
raised against him both by the high-church, or episcopalian party, and 
the presbyterians, — for both were dissatisfied with his delineation of 
their respective ancestors, and he was alternately denounced by each as 
an apostate to the religious faith of his forefathers. From the latter 
dilemma, Scott extricated himself most happily, and his vindication 
is altogether in his own peculiarly ingenious manner. It occurs 
in the introduction to the second series of the " Tales of My Land- 
lord," published in 1818, and is as follows — quasi Cleishbotham lo' 
quitur : — 

" These cavillers have not only doubted my identity, but they have 
impeached my veracity and the authenticity of my historical narratives 1 
It is true, indeed, that if I had hearkened with only one ear, I might 
have rehearsed my tale with more acceptation from those who love to 
hear but half the truth. It is, mayhap, not altogether to the discredit 
of our kindly nation of Scotland, that we are apt to take an interest, 
warm, yea partial, in the deeds and sentiments of our forefathers. He 
whom his adversaries describe as a perjured prelatist, is desirous that 
his predecessors should be held moderate in ther power, and just in the 
execution of its privileges, when, truly, the unimpassioned peruser of 
the annals of those times shall deem them sanguinary, violent and tyran- 
nical. Again, the representatives of the suffering non-comformists 
desire that their ancestors, the Cameronians, shall be represented not 
simply as honest enthusiasts, oppressed for conscience-sake, but per- 
sons of fine breeding and valiant heroes. Truly, the historian cannot 
gratify those predilections. He must needs describe the cavaUers as 
proud and high-spirited, cruel, remorseless and vindictive ; the suffer- 
ing party as honourably tenacious of their opinions under persecution ; 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 321 

their own tempers being, however, sullen, fierce and rude ; their 
opinions absurd and extravagant, and their whole course of conduct that 
of persons whom hellebore would better have suited than persecution 
unto death for high treason. Nathless, while such and so preposterous 
were the opinions on either side, there were, it cannot be doubted, men 
of virtue and worth on both, to entitle either party to claim merit from 
its martyrs. It has been demanded of me, Jedediah Cleishbotham, by 
what right I am entitled to constitute myself an impartial judge of their 
discrepancies of opinions, seeing (as is stated) that I must necessarily 
have been descended from one or other of the contending parties, and 
be, of course, wedded for better or worse, according to the reasonable 
practice of Scotland, to its dogmata or opinions, and bound, as it were, 
by the tie matrimonial, or, to speak without metaphor, ex jure sangui- 
nis, to maintain them in preference to all others. But nothing denying 
the rationality of the rule which calls on all now living to rule their 
political and religious opinions by those of their great-grandfathers, and 
inevitable as seems the one or the other horn of the dilemma betwixt 
which my adversaries conceive they have pinned me to the wall, I yet 
spy some means of refuge, and claim a privilege to write and speak of 
both parties with impartiality. For, O ye powers of logic ! when the 
prelatists and presbyterians of old times went by the ears together in 
this unlucky country, my ancestor (venerated be his memory !) was 
one of the people called Quakers, and suffered severe handling on 
either side, even to the extenuation of his purse, and the incarceration 
of his person." 

The latter statement is literally true. The author's great-grand- 
father, Walter Scott of Raeburn, third son of Sir William Scott of Har- 
den, and grandfather of Mr. Robert Scott of Sandy Knowe, became a 
convert to Quakerism, about the middle of the seventeenth century, 
at the same time when the celebrated George Fox, the apostle of the 
sect, made an expedition into Scotland. Upon the death of Sir Wil- 
liam, the elder brother, who remained orthodox to the presbyterian 
faith, had interest enough with the Privy Council to procure Walter's 
imprisonment in the tolbooth at Edinburgh, whence he was transported 
to the jail of Jedburgh, in order to give his friends and relatives better 
opportunities of reconverting him. His two sons William and Walter, 
and a daughter, Isobel, were likewise placed under the tutorage of their 
uncle, to prevent their being infected with their father's doctrines, and 
two thousand pounds Scots were ordered to be paid out of the lands of 
Eilrig and Kaeburn, (their father's patrimony,) for their maintenance 
and education. The son, Walter, was Scott's immediate great-grand- 
father. 

2r 



322 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

But there was also another ancestral link between Scott and the wor- 
thy society of Friends, through a much more important proselyte than 
Walter Scott of Raeburn. John Swinton of Swinton, ninth baron in 
descent of that ancient and once powerful family, was, with Sir William 
Lockhart of Lee, the person whom Cromwell chiefly trusted with the 
management of the Scottish affairs during his usurpation. After the 
restoration, Swinton was devoted as a victim to the new order of things 
along with the Marquis of Argyle, in company with whom he was 
brought to Edinburgh. Through the intercession of powerful friends, 
Swinton, who had then assumed the Quaker faith and dress, escaped 
the fate of the unfortunate Argyle, but was subjected to a long impri- 
sonment and much dilapidation of his estates. It was Jean Swinton, a 
grand-daughter of Sir John Swinton, son of the Quaker, who was 
wife of Dr. John Rutherford, and mother of Anne Rutherford, the 
author's mother, whom we slightly noticed at the outset of our 
memoir. 

Although Scott may thus by his subsequent lapse into prelacy, be 
considered as an apostate in a double sense to the faith of his proge- 
nitors, he seems to have all along cherished a deep feeling of veneration 
towards the simple-minded and excellent members of the society of 
Friends — a body of men, to whose unostentatious worth so fine and 
just a tribute of respect was paid by the present legislature, by the 
unanimous annulment of their disabilities to participate in the councils 
of the nation.* In Joshua Geddes and his sister Rachel, (the only spe- 
cimens by the way, whom he has introduced into his novels,) Scott 
has drawn most favourable pictures of the kindly benevolence of 
the sect. 

But notwithstanding our author's self-justification of his description 
of the covenantei's, he afterwards acknowledged that if he had the tale 
to write over again, he would have given a higher tone to the presbyte- 
rian character, and it would almost appear that it was his conviction of 
the propriety and justice of doing so, that instigated him to draw his 
picture of the family of the Deanses, in the second series of the " Tales 
of My Landlord." 

We have been induced to say more respecting the tale of " Old 
Mortality," than our limits perhaps warrant us in doing, — for two 
reasons. In the first place, it is the only one of Scott's works wherein 



* We here allude, of course, to the admission of Mr. Pease to a seat in the House 
of Commons, as member for Durham, ere liis disquahtications were judicially abro- 
gated ; — a somewhat irregular proceeding, doubtless, but in prospective object of which 
every unprejudiced mind must concur. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 323 

he has been accused of political partiality, or an anti-popular strain of 
feeling; and, in the second place, because our opinion is, we candidly 
confess, that this is, by far, the best of that class of his novels, more 
properly termed Scotch. There is in it all that close portraiture of 
character, which we have noticed as being the chief excellence of the 
" Antiquary :" and at the same time infinitely greater diversity of it. 
There is also far more bustle and energy in the narrative ; while the 
incidents are a thousand degrees more generally interesting. In one 
peculiarity, indeed, this novel stands above all the other members of its 
family. There is not one useless or expletive character introduced into 
it. Every individual, from the Duke of Monmouth to Goose Gibbie, 
contributes his share in the progress of the plot and interest of the 
story. Every stroke of the pencil is redolent of nature and truth, — and 
the whole affords, in our opinion, the best exemplification of the truth 
of the late lamented Mrs. Brunton's observation, " that a single page of 
Scott's novels is worth whole volumes of common inventions." 



CHAPTER VII. 



FROM THE PUBLICATION OF ROB ROY IN 1818, TO THE DIVCLGEMENT OF 
THE WAVERLEY SECRET, FEBRUARY 23d, 1827. 



Our limited space leaves us little opportunity for any thing beyond a 
simple enumeration of the remaining voluminous publications of our 
author ; and indeed, retrospect becomes the less necessary the nearer 
we approach the termination of our labours. 

As if to add to the festivities of the season, " Rob Roy"* came out 
(or came in) w^ith the year 1818 ; and the British public have seldom 
been presented with a more acceptable Christmas gift. In this pub- 
lication the author resumed his original masquerade habit, and made a 
humorous excuse for breaking through the vow of future silence he had 
imposed on himself in the preface to " The Antiquary." But the 
merits of the work of themselves proved a sufficient apology for this 
breach of promise. 

" Rob Roy" is much of the same character as " Waverley." The 
scenery and many of the characters are alike, and their respective plots 
are worked up with the same causes of civil discord. In one respect 
" Rob Roy" differs from all the other novels of Scott — the narrative 
is told in the first person," a style of composition which, with some 
advantages, is, we believe, generally found much more troublesome to 
manage by novel writers, from the difficulty of avoiding a tiresome 



* In the last edition of the novels, the publishers, wc ohscrve, have placed " Rob 
Roy" next in succession to the " Antiquary," for the purpose we suppose — at least 
we can see no other — of bringing the first three series of " Tales of My Landlord'' 
together. This is surely a very frivolous reason for such a chronological niisarrange- 
ment of these publications. Why not also place in juxta-position the Jburth series 
published in 1831? 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 325 

egotism on the part of the assumed narrator, and of the writer's main- 
taining, as it were, a fictitious existence with consistency for a length 
of time, without permitting his own feelings and opinions to intrude and 
destroy the illusion. This power, however, was one of the most pro- 
minent and extraordinary qualities of Scott's genius. We read in our 
fairy tales of magicians who possessed the gift of throwing their spirit 
out of its natural mansion into any other sort of fleshly habitation they 
chose, whether of man or beast. But Scott was a greater magician 
than they. He could at Avill, transmute his spirit as well as his person, 
and we can, in fact, find in his writings every sort of individual — but 
Walter Scott. And here we cannot help remarking, in passing, how 
singular and striking a contrast is presented, in this respect, betwixt 
him and the other literary colossus of the day — his successor as 
" Monarch of Parnassus" — who now divided the admiration of the 
public with him. While Scott was throwing off" novel after novel with 
a rapidity that must ever seem to lesser minds as nothing short of mira- 
culous, Byron was flinging from him poem after poem with scarcely 
less astounding profusion. They divided the applause of the world 
betwixt them, which they alike commanded by the splendour of their 
minds — " alike ! but oh, how differently." The beings of the noble 
poet's depicting were but creatures into whose brain and veins he trans- 
fused his own wild passions and diseased imaginings. They were, in 
a manner, mere " illustrations" of himself in his darker moods, — all 
exaggerated, no doubt, as if he took a strange delight in rendering the 
human mind hideous to itself, and his own the most hideous of all ; 
but the same jarring chords were struck too often not to show, that, 
if he was not indeed the fearful thing he represented himself, his 
mind must have been pitched in a sympathetic key to those of his 
Childe Harold, his Conrade, and his Lara. His own passions and 
emotions animate all his heroes, and the character of Byron is inter- 
woven with every verse of his poetry. 

In the writings of Scott, again, there is so little of their author visi- 
ble, that even his bosom friends were unable to discover traces of his 
character in any of his heroes. This fact alone we hold to be decisive 
of the superior breadth of his genius. Byron's mind and feelings, 
however powerful and acute, were still selfish and engrossing. Scott 
comprehended and sympathised with those of the whole human race, 
and therefore it is that his writings embrace a range of style and charac- 
ter as diversified and multifarious as that contained in Polonius's enume- 
ration of the accomplishments of the royal players. 

As in all his novels, Scott seems to have commenced " Rob Roy" 
without any systematic plot. In fact, after the first two or three 



326 LIFE OF Sill WALTER SCOTT. 

attempts, he gave up all thoughts of laying down a regular ground- 
work for any of his tales. By his own confession, as we have seen, he 
broke off from the original plans of " Waverley" and "Guy Manner- 
ing," after the first two or three chapters were written. Mr. Cun- 
ningham tells us of a conversation which took place betwixt Scott and 
himself on this subject. " We talked" says he, " of romance-writing: 
■' When you wish to write a story,' said Scott, ' I advise you to pre- 
pare a kind of outline — a skeleton of the subject; and when you have 
pleased yourself with it, proceed to endow it with flesh and blood.' 
* I remember,' I said, ' that you gave me much the same sort of advice 
before.' ' And did you follow it V he said quickly. ' I tried,' I 
answered, 'but 1 had not gone far on my way, till some will-o'-wisp 
or another dazzled my sight ! so I deviated from the path, and never 
got on it again.' ' 'Tis the same way with myself,' he said, smiling, 
" 1 form my plan, and then in executing it, I deviate.' " 

There occurs in several parts of " Rob Roy," accordingly, no little 
confusion and mystification in the narrative, particularly respecting 
Rashleigh's political intrigues and mercantile defalcations. There are 
also several palpable departures from probability in the incidents — such 
as the literary execution of the whole gigantic family of Osbaldistones, 
comprehending a father and six sons, within a few months, in order 
to clear the way for the hero's succession to the family estate. The 
idea, too, of Mac Gregor's carrying a large drove of Highland cattle to 
aid him in rescuing Sir Frederick and Diana Vernon from the machi- 
nations of Rashleigh, is a most extraordinary contrivance, and suggests 
the idea of a foot-pad setting out to commit a highway robbery in a 
baggage-wagon. 

The deficiencies of the tale in these respects, however, are amply 
made up by its excellence in other qualities. The readers and ad- 
mirers of the " Lady of the Lake," " Lord of the Isles," and " W aver- 
ley," were delighted to be transported once more to the bracing air 
and sublime scenery of the Highlands ; and it would actually appear 
that the scent of the heather and the sight of the tartan invariably com- 
municated fresh vigour and boldness to the spirit of the novelist him- 
self. The characters are all admirable in themselves, and placed in 
striking contrast with each other. Those of the Bailie, Rashleigh, 
and Die Vernon, are perhaps the best, — the most original in concep- 
tion, and the most diflacult to sustain. There can scarcely be conceived 
a more unpromising subject for delineation than the conceited, purse- 
proud dignitary, to whom we are first introduced, — full of his own 
local dignity, and redolent of his eternal prudential saws in the science 
of money-making. Yet how excellent a being does he become on 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 327 

farther acquaintance ? How much spirit and generosity and warmheart- 
edness is hidden under his formal and pedantic deportment and habits 
of mercenary calculation ! 

Rashleigh is one of the very best of that most difficult of all charac- 
ters to depict, a plausible, talented, and remorseless villain. These 
personages in common hands do little else than irritate and disgust, — 
their knavery is seen through. But Rashleigh is a perfect hypocrite; 
we feel that he would have completely deceived ourselves, and we 
cannot well be persuaded of his villany, until he is pleased of his 
own accord to disclose his defection from the paths of honour and 
virtue. 

Diana Vernon is, we believe, the most general favourite of all Scott's 
young ladies, and perhaps deservedly so ; but candour compels us to 
say, that for a considerable time after being introduced to her, we felt 
much inclined to suck in our jaws, like Andrew Fairservice, shake our 
head and say, — " She's a wild slip that." There is positively some- 
thing too unnatural and exaggerated in this young lady's portrait. 
That there may be many young ladies possessed of as much learning, 
talent, vivacity, sarcasm, and skill of horsemanship, as Miss Die, we 
will not venture to dispute ; but we reckon it a solecism in nature that 
a girl of eighteen, be her abilities or book-knowledge what they may, 
accustomed all her life to no other society but that of sots and jockeys, 
(with the exception of a melancholy father and a secluded student,) 
could possibly have acquired that eloquence and purity of expression, 
readiness of repartee, power of illustration, and elegant ease of deport- 
ment, which Scott assigns to her. The portraits of her six cousins, 
which she dashes off in fifteen minutes with an ease and severity 
which it is impossible to avoid being much amused with, could only 
be the handiwork of one who had enjoyed opportunities of contrasting 
their brutal deportment and habits with the polished manners and 
elegant accomplishments of refined society. It is true, we get accus- 
tomed to " her ways" by degrees — nay, as in the case of Flora Mac- 
Ivor, we absolutely begin to like her, when she falls into distress, and 
manifests such a calm and uncomplaining spirit of endurance ; but Mr. 
Francis Osbaldistone was indeed a bold man to perpetrate the tie matri- 
monial with one who had given him such undoubted proofs of self- 
willedness, and shown herself such an adept in the art of scolding. 
But we have no wish to put the public out of humour with their 
favourite, the " Heath-bell of Cheviot," and shall wind up our obser- 
vations on her with the usual convenient phrase of those who are puz- 
zled to form an opinion, or afraid to deliver it — that she is "altogether 
an extraordinary young woman." 



328 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

None of Scott's novels, we believe, took Such an universal and influ- 
ential hold of the public mind as " Rob Roy." Our streets and high- 
ways were thronged with scampering Dianas : Celtic clubs and socie- 
ties were formed in every town and village in the kingdom ; the war- 
pipe " waked its wild voice anew" in our halls and streets ; tartans, 
for a while, fairly superseded broadcloth, threatening Gloucestershire 
and Yorkshire with ruin; and the monarch and the peasant alike 
proudly strutted in the kilt and philabeg. It is curious — perhaps 
somewhat ludicrous — to reflect on the Celto-mania which pervaded the 
land at that period ; but the more extravagant the enthusiasm dis- 
played by our usually grave and soberminded countrymen, the more 
remarkable must the power of the master-mind, who gave rise to all 
this, appear. We recollect being present at the presentation of its first 
pair of colours to one of our Edinburgh troops of Celts. The scene 
was the Queen Street gardens, and the presenter of the gift was Walter 
Scott. We were close beside the great man, who delivered his 
address in so low a tone of voice, that, but for the death-still silence that 
prevailed, not a word would have been audible. When he concluded, 
and the appropriate martial pibroch struck up, a shout arose which 
rent the welkin, and a hundred claymores flashed in the air as if impa- 
tient for the deadly strife. Yet of all the warriors present, perhaps 
not one had ever handled a more formidable weapon than a goose-quill 
or a brief before in their lives. In fact, they were almost all young 
members of the bar, and writers to the signet. Amid the martial-like 
turmoil, the old man Avho had been the cause of all their enthusiasm, 
hirpled away unnoticed amongst the crowd of fashionables as if from 
a scene with which he had not the slightest connection. The drama 
(or opera,) founded on the novel, was the means of reviving a taste for 
theatricals in Edinburgh. For months the theatre was crowded to the 
door, and the run, as it is termed, not only avowedly saved the estab- 
lishment from ruin, but enriched the proprietors, and enabled Mrs. 
Siddons to establish the " Theatrical Fund" for the support of de- 
cayed actors, at the first annual dinner of which Scott afterwards 
unmasked himself. But of this anon. 

While the whole world was thus running clean ivud, as Andrew 
Fairservice says, about Glasgow bailies and breechless Highlandmen, 
that worthy personage, Mr. Jedediah Cleishbotham, as if to allay the 
fury ot die tartan fever that had seized on the community, stepped 
forward with a second series of Mr. Pattieson's tales, and administered 
a febrifuge (we should perhaps rather say a counter-irritant) in the 
shape of " The Heart of Midlothian," which made its appearance, in 
four volumes, exactly /owr months after the publication of " Rob Roy." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, 329 

The commingled admiration and curiosity of the pubUc at this 
period, as we well recollect, was beyond every thing intense. The 
mysterious author and his works were the theme of every tongue, the 
topic of every conversation. Copies of the next novel were ordered 
from the booksellers before even its name was known, and perhaps 
before it was written; but people now began to reckon on their 
appearance with as much confidence as on the recurrence of a period- 
ical festivity; and the struggle for priority as readers, among the sup- 
porters of our circulating libraries, led to the registering of scores of 
names in anticipation of the forthcoming volumes. As these were 
lent out at the somewhat exorbitant rate of sixpence each per night, 
parties of young men, in order to save expense, were in the habit of 
assembling at each other's lodgings over evening, where by sitting up 
all night, and reading chapters in turn, they were enabled to get 
through the whole by breakfast-time next morning. In fact the 
perusal of the novels cost each reader, we are convinced, on an average, 
a much greater sacrifice of sleep and leisure than the composition of 
them did their author. 

The " Heart of Midlothian" is a complete contrast to " Rob Roy," 
equally in plot, character, scenery, and incident ; and it was regarded 
with considerable suspicion, if not dislike, by the more fashionable and 
sentimental portion of the reading public. It was indeed putting their 
delicate sensibilities to a severe test to demand the exercise of them 
towards " those low creatures, the cow-feeders^^ — as a worthy spin- 
stress is said to have observed at the time with a shrusf of disffiist. 
Effie, to be sure, was an exception ; and by subsequently becoming, as 
she does, a woman of rank and fashion, her low origin, as well 
as her early moral peccadilloes, might be overlooked. But it was 
really too much in the writer to think of interesting people of taste 
in the fortunes of so many illiterate beings, and to introduce them to 
such lowlife scenes as the work abounds in. So thought the circles of 
fashionable life, but Scott was the chronicler oi nature, not of fashion. 
There was no phase of the human character, however regulated by the 
circumstances of birth, or acted upon by the accidental influences of 
education and society, that was too degraded for his sympathy. He 
could appreciate the divine attributes of our nature, in whatever form 
pi-esented, or in whatever casket enclosed ; and could understand, and 
feel, and demonstrate, how the habiliments of poverty could cover a 
more sterling and upright bosom that the robes of a prince. Of this 
philosophic view of human nature, his " Jeanie Deans" is a beautiful 
exemplification. He does not reckon it necessary to lift her out of her 
original humble sphere or character in order to enlist in her behalf the 
feelings of his readers. She remains the same simple, unlettered, vid- 

2s 



330 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

gar girl throughout — the daughter, in short, of Davie Deans the cow- 
feeder; whilst she performs acts of heroism, and exhibits principles of 
virtue and religious firmness in circumstances the most trying which 
exalt our species in our estimation. It is now, perhaps, well known, 
that this character, as far at least as respects the main incidents of the 
story — the trial and condemnation of her sister for child-murder — her 
journey to London on foot, and obtaining her sister's pardon — were 
taken from facts : the original heroine being Helen Walker, the daugh- 
ter of a small farmer at Dalwhairn, in the parish of Irongray, in the 
stewarlry of Kirkcudbright.* She died about the end of the year 1791, 
in very humble circumstances, at the Mills of Cluden, near Dumfries, 
and a monument, at Scott's expense, has been placed over her remains 
in the churchyard of Irongray within the last two years. The inscrip- 
tion on it bears simply the name of Helen Walker, and the date of her 
death. Her virtues he has recorded in a more durable manner. Her 
sister Isabella, or Tibby Walker, who was so marvelously saved from 
a disgraceful doom, was afterwards married to the person who wronged 
her (named Waugh,) and lived happily for the best part of a century, 
at Whitehaven, on the Solway ; and an old woman still (or very lately) 
living at the Mills of Cluden, remembers of Helen annually receiving a 
cheese from her sister, who to the last manifested a strong sense of the 
extraordinary affection to which she owed her preservation. 

Respecting the origin of, and chief actors in, the Porteous mob, over 
all the circumstances attending which such a veil of impenetrable mys- 
tery has been cast seemingly for ever, our author has evidently spared 
no pains to arrive at accuracy in his detail of this remarkable occur- 
rence ; but although the incidents of the riot are for the most part given 
with remarkable accuracy, he has been utterly baffled in all his endea- 
vours to discover any thing Vv'ilh certainty respecting the conspirators. 
The only feasible account of the origin of it which he was able to 
procure, was the reported death-bed confession of a man in Fife, a 
wood-forester to a gentleman of fortune, who was said to have affirmed 
that he was not only one of the actors in the affair, but one of the secret 
few by whom the deed was schemed. Twelve persons of the village 
of Pathhead, Fifeshire, — Wilson's native place, — according to this 
man's alleged statement, resolved that Porteous should die, to atone for 
the death of Wilson, with whom many of them had been connected by 
the ties of friendship and joint adventure in illicit trade. This venge- 
ful band crossed the Forth by different ferries, and met together at 
a solitary place near the city, whence they distributed themselves 
through the suburbs : and giving a beginning to the enterprise, soon 

* For a full account of this heroine, see M'Diarmid's Sketches of Nature." 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 331 

saw it undertaken by the populace, whose minds were quite ripe for 
such an undertaking from motives of revenge for the death of so many 
innocent citizens, as well as indignation at the partial measures of 
government. But notwithstanding the circumstantiality, and indeed 
great probability of this man's account, it appears that when Scott pi-o- 
ceeded personally to make -inquiries amongst his descendants, they 
scouted the rumoured confession as a complete fiction, and indignantly 
repelled the charge brought against their ancestor's memory.* 

But in whatever way, or with Avhatever parties the plot originated, 
we have been able to gain pretty certain information respecting one 
actor, at least, in the Porteous mob. A friend, whose maternal uncle 
died many years ago, at a very advanced age, (and whom we personally 
recollect) informs us that the old gentleman used frequently to speak 
of the Porteous mob, which he may be said to have witnessed, (being 
in business in the Pleasance as a brewer at the time) and that he lat- 
terly mentioned the name of one individual who had been implicated 
in it, and from whom he had personally received an account of many 
circumstances attending the transaction. This individual's name was 
Gumming, a butcher by trade, and whose place of business was in 
the low market of Edinburgh. He died unmolested at a very advanced 
age. 

Gumming would never divulge the names of his accomplices, but 
acknowledged to the old gentleman above mentioned, that he was one 
of the leaders in the riot, and was the first who laid hands upon Por- 
teous after the jail was forced. His version of this part of the pro- 
ceedings was diflerent from Scott's, who, it will be recollected, states 
that Porteous was dragged from the chimney, where he had hid him- 
self in the agony of his terror. Gumming's story was — and it bears 
all the marks of authenticity — that Porteous cunningly ensconced him- 
self at the inner side of the door of his room, so that when forced open, 
it folded back upon him, and for the moment concealed him from 
view ; and the room being almost instantaneously filled with his pur- 
suers, who poured in like dammed-up water through a new-opened 
sluice, he was speedily involved amongst them, as if one of themselves. 
In this way, and by exerting a little prudence, he would in all proba- 
bility have escaped, but his anxiety to get clear of the men who were 
yelling around him like ravenous hounds thirsting for his blood, 
prompted him to endeavour to force his way out. This movement — 
pressing outwards when all others were eagerly pressing in — naturally 
attracted the notice of some of the rioters, and amongst the rest Gum- 
ming, who immediately recognised him, seized him by the collar, and 

* See third series of " Tales of a Grandfather." 



333 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

cried, " here is our man !" This account, it will be allowed, if untrue, 
does not look like an invention at least. Gumming likewise said that 
there was nothing like an organized conspiracy amongst the mass of 
rioters, who consisted chiefly of bakers, butchers, and brewers' ser- 
vants (including the old gentleman's own ;) that the design had been 
merely whispered amongst them in an indefinite manner, but that it 
spread as quickly and silendy as an epidemic, and that they joined in 
the attempt as a matter of course. This facility for an enterprise of 
so daring and violent a character, exhibits a fearful state of feeling 
amongst the lower orders of the Scottish metropolis at that period. 
But indeed the mobs of Scotland have at all times been remarkable for 
their ferocity and courage. 

The " Heart of Midlothian" is perhaps at once the most elaborate 
and most perfect of all the Scottish novels, as respects the multiplicity 
and variety of characters introduced, and the complete development of 
them. Each of the leading characters is a study by itself; they are of 
all grades, from the monarch to the footpad, and the contrast into 
which they are brought is in the last degree striking and effective. 
Were we desired to give an example of the creative power of Scott's 
mind, we would enumerate the personages in this novel ; for, as we 
have remarked of " Old Mortality," there is scarcely one expletive or 
unnecessary character introduced even amongst the many subordinates ; 
all contribute to the progress and animation of the story. Even the 
episodical digressions are all masterly strokes, — as witness the fearful 
death-bed scene of Old Dumbiedykes, which might have been perfectly 
well dispensed with, so far as the main story is concerned. It is said 
that one of the farewell advices of the old miser to his son Jock,"— 
" aye to be sticking in a tree when he had naething else to do, it 
would be growing when he was sleeping" — made such an impression 
on a northern earl as induced him to plant a large tract of country. 

Amongst Scott's miscellaneous writings in 1818, we may notice the 
essays on " Chivalry,'' and the " Drama," published in the supple- 
ment to the Encyclopedia Briiannica ; also his account of the Regalia 
of Scotland, (published in a pamphlet,) which were discovered on the 
4th of February, same year, in the old crown-room of Edinburgh 
castle, lying in the same state m which they had been deposited in 
1707. A commission had been issued to the crown-othcers of state in 
Scotland, and other persons in public situations, to search for these 
ancient insignia of Scottish independence, whose place of concealment 
or security had been doubted for more than half a century. Amongst 
the latter was " Walter Scott, Esq." 

" A third series of " Tales of My Landlord" appeared in 1819, in 
four volumes, consisting of two tales, " The Bride of Lammermoor," 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 333 

and the " Legend of Montrose." The first of these works is in the 
highest style of fictitious composition, whether poetry or prose. It is 
essentially dramatic, and may indeed be termed a tragedy of the first 
order. There is an atmosphere of horror spread over the whole, like 
the portentous gloom of an impending thunder- cloud, which we feel 
assured, with shuddering certainty, must burst, and spread death and 
desolation around it. We perceive from the very first that there can 
be no hope of the story terminating auspiciously ; the characters are 
doomed ; the progress of worldly events is all ordinary and natural, 
yet they seem to be impelled by an irremediable fate to contribute to the 
tragic issue. We can call to mind no tale in which the common occur- 
rences of rational life are interwoven with the predications of destiny 
and the omens of superstition, with so little ofience to reason ; and the 
secret of this is, that there is no immediate supernatural agency em- 
ployed to direct the incidents of the narrative. There is no casting of 
witch-spells, ior other preternatural influences to control human action. 
All has been previously set down in the book of destiny. The hag 
Ailsie Gourly, with "witch" stamped on every feature oihevugsome 
face, is allowed to exert no powers but those of a malicious and misan- 
thropic mind, in her fiendish occupation of warping the reason and 
crushing the heart of her unfortunate victim Lucy ; and even the 
ghastly apparition of old Alice is but an indicative shadow of coming 
events. It is in this respect that the communion of the three hateful 
hags in the tale appears to us a far more masterly and impressive 
delineation than that of Shakspeare's weird sisters, with whom they 
have generally been compared. The latter are not so much witches as 
spirits, "bubbles of the air," appearing and disappearing at pleasure ; 
while the compounding of their hell-broth, with their anile jabbering 
about pilots' thumbs, killing swine, and all the other commonplaces of 
the nursery demonophobia; can only make an impression on highly 
imaginative or highly ignorant minds. But Annie Winnie and her con- 
federates, with all their evil passions, and their half pretensions to and 
general imputation of evil power, still retain the attributes of the human 
form, and that in its most helpless state ; and it is therefore that their 
foul gloating over the dead-dole — their regarding the master with a sort 
of affection in consideration of his making a " bonny corpse" — and the 
bitter enmity they cherish towards the whole human race — raise in us 
"emotions both of rage and fear;" and although we heartily approve 
of Johnny Mortcloth exercising his souple on the backs of the "damn- 
ed hags," we expect no less than that the old man will be found dead 
in his bed next morning for his presumption. 

Caleb Balderstone has been generally objected to by the critics. 
One has called him a bore — another a buffoon, and so forth. It is 



334 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

perhaps our own obtuseness that prevents our seeing his character in 
this light; but we confess that the picture of the old man striving in 
the midst of penury and desolation to maintain the "dignity and hon- 
our o' the house," himself seemingly living upon nothing but recol- 
lections of former grandeur and profusion, is to us not only one of the 
most natural, but most affecting of all Scott's delineations. Lady Ash- 
ton is exacdy another Countess of Glenallen, in as far as the author 
lets us into the character of the latter. It is now pretty well known 
that the tragic incidents of the tale are drawn from actual circumstances 
which took place about the time specified in the family of Dalrymple, 
of which the present Earl of Stair is the representative. The original 
of Lady Ashton was the wife of the celebrated Scottish lawyer, the 
first lord Stair. She died at a great age, and her coffin was, at her 
request, placed upright in the family burying vault in Kirkliston 
church, — as she promised, that while she remained in that position, 
the Dalrymples should continue to prosper. Certainly her ladysln'p 
has hitherto kept her promise. In the introductory chapter to the tale, 
the assumed author, Mr. Pattieson, makes a Mr. Tinto, an itinerant 
painter, throAv out a suggestion which the real author, we believe, had 
little idea at the time would ever be adopted — namely, "an ornamented 
and illustrated edition of the ' Tales of My Landlord' with vignettes," 
&c. The scene of the conversation is, of course, the "Wallace Inn, in 
the village of Gandercleugh, and Mr. Tinto is described to have 
painted, as an appropriate sign for My Landlord, "the majestic head of 
Sir William Wallace, grim as when severed from the trunk by the 
orders of the felon Edward." A friend of Scott afterwards took the 
liberty of asking him whether he meant felon in the common accepta- 
tion of the English word, or if it was a mis-spelling of the printer for 
the old Scottisl) word felloun, fierce or ruthless. "I leave the orthoepy 
entirely to you," answered Scott, "only begging you will spell the 
felon as feloniously as possible !" It may be imagined that the patriotic 
feeling of indignation which still subsists against the destroyer of our 
national records and of our immortal patriot, glowed with no ordinary 
warmth in the bosom of our author. 

The " Legend of Montrose" is a shred of British history during 
the turbulent era of the seventeenth century, when the gallant but 
revengeful and ambitious Montrose made such a formidable and unex- 
pected diversion in Scotland in favour of Charles I., which, after the 
winning of six successive battles, terminated in the complete overthrow 
of the royalists at PhUiphaugh, near Selkirk, on the 11th September 
1645. The tale, however, only traces his career as far as his victory 
at Inverlochy, over his hereditary enemy Argyle. The narrative is 
sketchy and brief, but more vigorous and animated than the generality 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 335 

of Scott's works, and we certainly think it is to be regretted that he 
did not extend his plan, and deal with that era as he has with those of 
the persecution and the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Of plot there 
is none — for the "love passages" betwixt Menteath and Annot Lyle 
cannot be termed such. Ranald of the Mist and Allan Macaulay are 
somewhat too poetical and dramatic for a prose tale, and the bet 
about the candlesticks (although founded on fact) is worthy the mad- 
ness of the latter. The jocky club would have black-balled him. 

Ritt-master Dugald Dalgelty, titular of Drumthwacket, is perhaps 
the greatest original of all Scott's creations. He is a character entirely 
sui generis. The idea of combining the soldado with the divinity 
student of Mareschal College, Aberdeen, has no parallel in the writings 
of any author, ancient or modern. He undoubtedly belongs to the 
family of bores, but he is the king of the species: we cannot have 
enough of him. In no where has Scott shown more affinity to the 
matchless spirit who brought out his Falstafis and Pistols, in act after 
act, and play after play, and exercised them every time with scenes of 
unbounded loquacity, without either exhausting their humour, or vary- 
ing a note from its characteristic tone, than in the interminable verbosity 
of the redoubted Ritt-master, It is a singular fact, that whilst drawing 
this masterly character, Scott was stretched on a bed of sickness, and 
racked with spasms of the most acute pain. So severe indeed was his 
illness — the first indisposition he had experienced since his sixteenth 
year — that, as mentioned in a previous chapter, his hair turned quite 
gray, and he rose from his couch seemingly ten years older than when 
he laid down.* We are not aware that any definite name can be given 
to Scott's illness at this time, when manifested itself in severe stitches 
in the side and cramps in the stomach. His sufferings, however, did 
not interrupt his career of mental labour otherwise than by reducing 
him to the necessity of employing an amanuensis, to whom he dictated 
from bed. Mr. William Laidlaw, who acted in this capacity, men- 
tioned afterwards to a friend, that Scott would sometimes be interrupted 
in one of his most humorous or elevated scenes by an attack of pain ; 
which, being past, he would recommence in the same tone at the point 

*A characteristic anecdote is told of the late Lord Buchan, in reference to this 
illness of our author. His lordship, who, with many amiable virtues, possessed a 
full equivalent of amiable weaknesses, conceiving Scott to be dying, waited upon Mrs. 
Scott, and begged her to intercede with her illustrious husband to allow himself to be 
buritd in Dry burgh Abbey. " The place " said his lordship, "is very beautiful — just 
such a place as the poet loves, and as he has a fine taste that way, he is sure of being 
gratified with my ofler." Scott smiled when told of the circumstance, and promised 
to give Lord Buchan the refusal since he was so solicitous. His lordship, however, 
took up his last lodging in the abbey long before his illustrious neighbour. 



336 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

where he left off, and so on day after day. The "Bride of Lammer- 
moor," " Legend of Montrose," and greater part of "Ivanhoe," thus 
dictated, were afterwards found to be the only parts of this long series 
of compositions not in the author's own hand writing. 

"In "Ivanhoe," which, in 1820, succeeded the third series of the 
"Tales of my Landlord," Scott broke ground which had never before 
been disturbed by a literary ploughshare. The scene was away back 
into the twilight regions of romance, amongst personages, whose 
characters, if not whose very existence, were so indistinctly known as 
to be almost mythological. That there were such individuals as 
Cceur-de-Lion, and his brother John, we understand from history; 
but what knew we of their domestic character, or their habits and deport- 
ment in private life, — or of the manners, dress, occupations and cus- 
toms of the population of England, during the twelfth century, except 
what could be gleaned from the relics of old ballads which have been 
handed down to us ? We cannot take it upon us to say that Scott has 
given a strictly accurate historical view of the condition of society, or 
the personages and customs of the dark era — for where could he find 
materials for doing so, or we for judging of the attempt? He has rather 
evoked a world of his own. It is like an age added to the cycle of 
British history. And yet, notwithstanding the freshness and novelty 
of his creations in character and incident, how readily do they re- 
awaken our early notions of those primitive times, which we derived 
from the rhymes of the nursery, and other sources which we have long 
lost sight of ! We believe there is not one reader who did not at once 
recognise in the King Richard, the Robin Hood, and the Friar Tuck 
of the novel, the very personages familiar to his boyish fancy, and as- 
sociated indelibly with his earliest recollections. 

Scott's reasons for selecting so novel and ditHcult a subject for the 
exercise of his pen, he has explained at length in the introduction 
to the late edition of the novel. "He felt," he says, "that in con- 
fining himself to subjects purely Scottish, he was not only likely to 
weary out the indulgence of his readers, but also greatly to limit his 
own power of affording them pleasure. In a highly polished country, 
where so much genius is monthly employed in catering for public 
amusement, a fresh topic, such as he had himself had the happiness to 
light upon, is the untasted spring of the desert : — 

'Men bless their stars, and call it luxury.' 

But when men and horses, cattle, camels, and dromedaries, have 
poached the spring into mud, it becomes loathsome to those who at 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 337 

first drink of it with rapture, and he who had the merit of discovering 
it, if he would preserve his reputation with the tribe, must display his 
talent by a fresh discovery of untasted fountains." This is the severest 
reflection upon his literary imitators, which we find in all Scott's 
writings ; and the occasion of it was this : — In order to render his ex- 
periment upon a subject purely English as complete as possible, it was 
Scott's intention to have brought out "Ivanhoe" as the effort of a new 
candidate for public favour, by name Lawrence Templeton, in order 
that no degree of prejudice, whether favourable or the reverse, might 
attach to it as a new production of the author of Waverley. This 
design, however, was marred by the appearance of a novel, (which it 
is needless farther to notice,) in London, purporting to be a fourth se- 
ries of "Tales of My Landlord;" in consequence of which, Scott's 
publishers reckoned it absolutely necessary that "Ivanhoe" should 
come out as an avowed continuation of the Waverley novels. Mr. 
Templeton's dedicatory epistle to the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust, was, never- 
theless, retained as a preface to the novel, as explaining the author's 
purpose and opinions in undertaking this new species of composition. 

"Ivanhoe" is by far the most brilliant of all Scott's romances. It 
is, in fact, a splendid poem, or rather masque, and the author's unri- 
valled powers of description make the whole pass before our eyes like 
a living pageant. The storming of Front-de-BcEuf's castle, (dictated 
as we have before stated, from his bed, and amid short intervals of 
respite from acute pain,) is entirely worthy of the minstrel of Flodden 
field, — and higher praise cannot be bestowed. Yet eminently suc- 
cessful as was this novel attempt of Scott, there can be little doubt that 
it does not keep the same hold on the public mind as his more homely 
compositions, — his Waverleys, Antiquaries, and Old Mortalities, — 
which render us acquainted with our neighbours and ourselves, and 
depict the virtues, follies, prejudices, passions, habits, and affections, 
by which we are hourly instructed, governed, or cheered. 

Immediately upon the publication of Ivanhoe, early in 1820, Scott 
was called up to London to receive from his sovereign the honour of 
knighthood, with a baronetcy. This testimonial of royal favour was 
peculiarly flattering, on several accounts. It was the first honour of 
the kind which his majesty had conferred since his accession to the 
throne in the preceding year. As prince of Wales, he had distinguish- 
ed our author by many personal proofs of his admiration, his fine 
taste (which even his worst enemies must concede to him) enabling 
him fully to appreciate the rarity and splendour of the poet's genius. 
Accordingly, in his numerous visits to the metropolis, Scott was gen- 
erally honoured with an invitation to the royal table, where he experi- 
enced the most marked attentions. Another source of gratification 

2t 



338 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

on the present occasion was, that the honour was as unexpected as 
unsought. A friend who had got notice of his intended elevation to 
the baronetage, shortly before it took place, hinted it to him one day, 
—"More than I know of then," replied Scott, with his peculiarly quiet 
ironical smile : — "No, no, 

'I like not the grinning honour which Sir U alter hath." 

It was upon the occasion of this visit to the metropolis, also, that 
Chantrey executed that noble bust of the poet — the only strictly char- 
acteristic likeness of him we have ever seen, either in marble, clay, or 
copper — which will link the sculptor's name and fame with his, as im- 
perishably, though somewhat more worthily, as that of Boswell with 
Johnson. Mr. Allan Cunningham, who then, as now, superintended 
Mr. Chantrey's extensive establishment, has favoured us with an ac- 
count of this transaction, as well as of his own interviews with Scott, 
to whom he was then, for the first time, introduced. 

Scott's attention had been first attracted to the fine quality of Cun- 
ningham^s genius by the appearance of several matchless ballads which 
were published in " Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway 
Song." Although given to the world as relics of the olden time, they 
could not deceive the practised eye of Scott, who wrote to the editor 
requesting to know where he had picked up effusions of such singular 
beauty. Cromek, who seems to have had no suspicion of any trick 
having been passed upon him, replied, that they had been communi- 
cated to him by Mr. Allan Cunningham, a young stone-mason* at Dum- 
fries. The result of this information was, we believe, a letter from 



* Mr. Cunningham was then about twenty years of age. It has been remarked, 
that genius often runs in families, and that of Mr. C. is an exemplification of the 
remark. Mr. Thomas Mouncey Cunningham, the eldest brother, who has been for 
many years superintendent of the Messrs. Kennies' (engineers) establishment in 
London, exhibited extraordinary precociousness of jioetic talent ; and we have seen 
many of his juvenile pieces in MS., most of them written ere his fourteenth year, 
which his riper years need not be ashamed to own. He contributed largely to the 
"Forest and Nithsdale Minstrels," and to the Scots Magazine in the earlier years of 
the present century ; and his effusions are distinguished by a chastity, simplicity, and 
pathos, which, we do not scruple to say, would have rendered him a much more 
popular poet, had he persevered, than even his eminent brother. He seems, how- 
ever, to have fairly renounced the service of the muses. Mr. Peter Cunningham, 
the youngest of the brothers, now a surgeon in the royal navy, has also manifested no 
mean literary talent, by his excellent and useful work on New South Wales. The 
father of the Messrs. Cunningham was originally a farmer in Galloway, and latterly 
factor to Mr. Miller of Dalswuiton. He was a man of remarkable sagacity and 
strength of judgment. 



LIFE OF Sift WALTER SCOTT. 339 

Scott to the young poet, expressive of the highest admiration of his 
poetic talent, to which he made no scruple in assigning the paternity of 
the effusions which had made so great an impression on him. Mr. 
Cunningham has never, we believe, openly acknowledged the author- 
ship of these pieces, deterred probably by the outcry which was raised 
against Chatterton and others for offences of a similar kind. But we 
believe we may assure him, in the name of the public, that such hesi- 
tation is as fruidess as misplaced. He has long been identified as their 
author, and his countrymen regard the imposture (if so harsh a term 
can be applied) with much the same sort of feelings as they do that of 
Burns in his exquisite contributions to Johnson's Museum. We may 
remark by the way, from our certain means of knowing, that Mr. Cun- 
ningham has never received half the credit he was entitled to in the 
getting up Mr. Cromek's publication ; and that so far as the trouble 
of collecting, comparing, and arranging the materials is concerned, the 
work ought rather to have issued in his name than in that of the osten- 
sible editor. 

After completing his apprenticeship, Mr. Cunningham came to 
Edinburgh, where he wrought for some years at his employment, — 
but at this time his country had nearly lost for ever the benefit of his 
future literary labours. He received an advantageous offer to go out to 
the West Indies, under indentures for a certain term, (still a very com- 
mon transaction with mechanics,) "but the gentleman," said Mr. Cun- 
ningham to the writer of these pages, "laid down such a catalogue of 
virtues I must possess to fit me for crossing the Atlantic, that I told 
him he would require to have a man made specially for his purpose, as 
assuredly he would find no ordinary mortal qualified to suit him !" 
Mr. Cunningham afterwards went to London, where he maintained 
himself for some years by his pen, contributing (amongst other periodi- 
cals) to the Monthly Magazine, under the reversed appellative of 
"Naila," and to Blackwood's Magazine. Amongst his pieces in the 
latter publication, we may mention "The Witch of AE," and "Mark 
Macrabin the Cameronian," the latter of which tales is enriched with 
some of the most spirited and characteristic outpourings of his muse. 
He ultimately obtained his present situation in Mr. Chantrey's esta- 
blishment, where, amidst the discharge of duties laborious and respon- 
sible in no ordinary degree, his literary industry and profusion have 
become every year more remarkable. 

It has, we see, become a fashion of late to rank Mr. Cunningham along 
with Burns and Hogg in the list of what are called self-taught poets. 
Such a classification is in every respect absurd. Setting aside the 
paradox implied in the phrase, that a poet can be reared by any sort of 
tuition independent of the promptings of natural genius, we say that 



840 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

neither Robert Burns nor Allan Cunningham can, strictly speaking, be 
considered as self-taught men. Both of them enjoyed a better ele- 
mentary initiation into the rudiments of education than the majority of 
the Scottish peasantry, almost all of whom receive instruction sufficient 
to put those who are inclined in the path of self-improvement, and the 
acquisition of knowledge. Burns was even taught the rudiments of 
Latin and French ; and, in fact, had all the education which his future 
station in society required. Hogg, on the other hand, by being reared 
in a wild upland country, was deprived, for the most part, of these 
advantages, and the epithet of "self-taught" may with some propriety 
be applied to him. Mr. Cunningham, while the quality of his genius 
bears no affinity whatever to that of his two celebrated countrymen, 
has, in one sense, stepped far beyond either. Their fame, with pos- 
terity, will rest upon those productions which first brought them into 
public notice, but Mr. Cunningham, from being a simple writer of 
songs and ballads, has elevated himself into the rank of pure classical 
English writers. The genius of Burns sank under the pressure of 
the necessary drudgery of life. Hogg has never been able to divest 
himself of his original rusticity of thought and feeling, — and, speaking 
of him as a poet, we know not how far this is to be regretted. But 
Cunningham has fought his way into the foremost ranks of the 
literary ornaments of the age, still preserving all the romance and 
poetry of his youthful feelings fresh and untainted. This achievement 
is to be attributed to his more correct views of life, and the superior 
strength of the moral principle within him. He has not been satisfied 
with the possession or reputation of mere talent. He felt that even 
genius might be cultivated, and has subjected his own to a course of 
discipline which has at once strengthened his faculties and dignified his 
character. 

It may be imagined that Scott did not lose sight of the young 
Nithsdale poet. On the contrary, he watched with interest the pro- 
gress of his career, and scut him many flattering and friendly com- 
munications in reference to his (Mr. C.'s) various literary attempts. 
The following account of Mr. Cunningham's first interview with the 
then great unknown in 1820, we give in his own words : — 

" When I went to Sir Walter's residence in Piccadilly, I had much 
of the same palpitation of heart w hich Boswell experienced when in- 
troduced to Johnson. When I saw him in Edinburgh, (1808,) he was 
in the very pith and flush of life, — even, in my opinion, a thought more 
fat than bard beseems; when I looked on him now, thirteen years had 
not passed over him, and left no mark behind : his hair was grown 
thin and gray ; the stamp of years and study was on his brow. He told 
me lie had suflered much lately from ill health, and that he once doubted 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 341 

of recovery. His eldest son, a tall handsome youth, — now a major in 
the army, was with him. He welcomed me with both hands, and 
with such kind and complimentary words, that confusion and fear alike 
fled. He turned the conversation upon song, and said he had long 
wished to know me, on account of some songs, Avhich were reckoned 
old, but which he was assured were mine ; ' at all events,' said he, 
' they are not old, — they are far too good to be old : I dare say you 
know wliat songs I mean?' I was now much embarrassed; I neither 
owned the songs nor denied them, but said I hoped to see him soon 
again, for that, if he were willing to sit, my friend, Mr. Chantrey, was 
anxious to make his bust, — as a memorial to preserve in his collection 
of the author of ' Marmion.' To this he consented. So much was he 
sought after while he sat to Chantrey, that strangers begged leave to 
stand in the sculptor's galleries, to see him as he Avent in and out. 
The bust was at last finished in marble ; the sculptor lalioured most 
anxiously, and I never saw him work more successfully : in a long 
sitting of three hours, he chiseled the whole face over, communicating 
to it the grave humour and comic penetration for which the original 
was so remarkable. This fine work is now at Abbotsford, with an in- 
scription, saying, it is a present to Sir Walter Scott from Francis 
Chantrey, I hope it will never be elsewhere."* 

" When I next saw Sir Walter, King George was about to be 
crowned,! and he had come to London to make one in the ceremony. 
This was an affair that came within the range of his taste, and when 
he called on me, he talked of the magnificent scene which Westminster 
Abbey would present on the morrow, and inquired if I intended to go 
and look at it. I said I had no curiosity that way, having, when I was 
young, witnessed the crowning of King Crispin at Dumfries. He 
burst into a laugh and said, 'that's not unlike our friend Hogg: I 
asked him if he would accompany me, and he stood balancing the mat- 
ter between the coronation and St. Boswell's fair, and at last the fair 
carried it.' " 

We may here mention that Scott subsequently used his influence 
with the " Kings" of Leadenhall street, in obtaining appointments in 
the East India Company's service for two of Mr. Cunningham's 
sons. 

Immediately after Scott's return from London in 1820, in the cha- 
racter of baronet, the number of his domestic circle was reduced by the 



* Mr. Cunningham somewhere mentions that of this bust, two thousanil casts 
were in one year shipped to America, and fifteen hundred to the West indies, be- 
sides multitudes to other parts of the world. 

t July 19th, 1821. 



342 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

marriage of his eldest daughter Sophia, (April 28th) to John Gibson 
Lockhart, Esq., advocate. Mr. Lockhart, as is perhaps well known, 
is the son of the Rev. John Lockhart, minister of the college-church, 
Glasgow. He received his early education in his native city, and dis- 
tinguished himself so much in various branches of study, that he was 
chosen one of the two students which the college of Glasgow has a 
right to send annually to Oxford, to be there educated and maintained 
free of expense upon what is termed " Snell's Foundation." After 
completing his academical course, Mr. Lockhart came to Edinburgh, 
where he studied for the bar; but his mind was perhaps formed on too 
classical a model to fit him for jostling his way amongst the host of 
hungry competitors with whom he had to strive. At the time of his 
marriage with Miss Scott, and for several years, indeed both before 
and afterwards, he maintained himself, we believe, solely by the 
labours of his pen, amongst which we need only mention " Valerius," 
"Adam Blair," and "Matthew Wald." He was also, it is well 
known, one of the earliest and most effective contributors to "Black- 
wood's Magazine," started in 1817 — a periodical now unrivaled 
amongst our monthly publications. In 1825, Mr. Lockhart was 
appointed to the editorship of the I^^ondon Quarterly Review, which he 
has since conducted with distinguished success. 

" Ivanhoe," we have said, came out in the early part of 1820. In 
a few months afterwards appeared " The Monastery," in three volumes, 
and that work again was followed by " The Abbot," in three volumes — 
all in the same year. A certain Captain Clutterbuck is made to stand 
god-father to these productions, whose introductory epistle to the 
" Author of Waverley" contains in itself a little story of the deepest 
interest. The former of these works is decidedly of a much tamer cast 
than the majority of the author's writings, although we believe its com- 
parative unpopularity resulted chiefly from the unfavourable contrast it 
presented to the stately splendour of its immediate predecessor. The 
supernatural agency of the White Lady has been almost universally 
condemned ; and Scott himself, indeed, afterwards acknowledged the 
attempt to be a failure — but more in the execution than the conception. 
Waiving this contested point, we reckon the narrative otherwise only 
objectionable from the defectiveness of plot, of which we would be at a 
loss to say what it is intended to develop — the fate of the house of 
Avenel — the fortunes of young Glendinning — or the progress of the 
reformation. In character it abounds ; the indolent, good-natured Ab- 
bot of St. Mary's, the talented and zealous Sub-Prior, Henry Warden, 
Julian Avenel, his henchmen Christie — all are admirable delineations. 
The meeting between the Sub-Prior and the Reformer is one of the 
most masterly drawn scenes in all Scott's productions. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 343 

Nothing can be finer than the transition from the period of the narra- 
tive of this work to that of " The Abbot," which forms a continuation 
of it. We pass, as it were, by a step from the fresh spring of youth 
to the summer of manhood, and are made sensible of all the casualties, 
changes, and deprivations, which chequer the progress of human exist- 
ence. The person, deportment and manner of the unfortunate Queen 
Mary are sketched with admirable power, and at the same time with 
strict fidelity to the dubious light which history affords to judge of her 
character, — fascinating us with her beauty, wit, and accomplishments, 
yet leaving untouched the fearful mystery which hangs over many 
passages of her unhappy life. The transformation of tlie jolly Abbot 
Boniface into the aged, doting, and peevish gardener Blinkhoolie, 
is a conception which could only have emanated from a genius like 
Scott's. 

We regret that our duty as biographers here compels us to advert 
to an incident in Scott's life, which even at this distance of time cannot 
fail to call up many irritating recollections in the public mind. The 
era of 1820 will long be remembered for the unhappy popular disturb- 
ances which broke out in various parts of the kingdom. The severe 
and universal distress which then prevailed, and the unpopularity of 
government, had as usual led to the renewal of agitation for parlia- 
mentary reform. Without entering into the merits of this question, we 
may safely remark, that if there were amongst the popular leaders at 
that time many demagogues, whose sole aim was to produce confusion 
in the state, the contemptuous disregard manifested by government to 
the complaints and solicitations of the people, contributed equally witfe 
the pangs of famine to exasperate their feelings almost to a pitch: ofT 
frenzy. We need only allude to the memorable " Cato-street con- 
spiracy," and the affair at Bonnymuir, to call to the recollection of ouir 
readers the unhappy condition of society at that time. The popular- 
press began to assume a tone of boldness which it had never before 
dared to use, and which it was found utterly unable to repress by the 
usual legal expedients. With the view of counteracting the efforts of 
these " radical" prints, Scott inserted three papers entitled " The 
Visionary" into the Edinburgh Weekly Journal newspaper, (then pub- 
lished by Mr. Ballantyne,) and which were disseminated extensively 
throughout the country in the form of a pamphlet. Although we can- 
not question the good motives of the author of these effusions, yet it 
is certain the tone and temper of them were in the highest degi'ee inju- 
dicious, and they may be quoted as amongst the worst specimens of 
that high tory principle in politics which has since become in a man- 
ner exploded, — treating the advocates of parliamentary reform as a set 
of raving fanatics, or traitorous incendiaries, and addressing long argu- 



344 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

ments to the people which manifested the most entire ignorance of, or 
indifference to, their real feelings and motives. About the same time, 
and in order to neutralize the efforts of the more able radical journals, 
whose violence and personality had certainly reached a point which it 
would be diilicult in any circumstances to justify, a few private and 
professional tory gentlemen conceived the idea of establishing a news- 
paper of their own. Of this association Scott became a member, and 
his name along with those of many individuals of the first character 
and influence, was afterwards found subscribed to a mutual co-partnery 
bond. The " Beacon," as it was called, accordingly began to be pub- 
lished about the beginning of 1821 ; but although the avowed object of 
it was to support the measures of government, it speedily began to out- 
strip the most scurrilous of its opponents in the system of private abuse 
and defamation. This course soon gave rise to numerous actions at 
law, and differences of a serious nature between individuals in the most 
respectable circles of society ; and the outcry against the journal be- 
came so general and vehement, that the supporters of it shrunk from 
the storm, and it was finally stopped in September the same year.* 

Scott was severely blamed for his connection with the " Beacon," 
but it is only justice to his memory to state, that whilst he openly 
espoused the political principles of the paper, he disclaimed all counte- 
nance of the personal scurrilities introduced into it, and in fact was one 
of the first to intimate his intention of withdrawing from the confede- 
racy, when he perceived the system adopted by its conductors. 

So strongly, however, had popular prejudice been stirred up against 
him, that a report actually found its way into the London papers, of 
his house being attacked, and his person and family maltreated by the 
peasantry of the district. This ridiculous rumour was instantly con- 
tradicted by the editor of a provincial journal ; and the following letter, 
referring thereto, we think ourselves, for more reasons than one, impe- 
ratively called upon to insert here. It is now in our possession, and is 
addressed to a friend in Edinburgh, who had sent Scott a copy of the 
newspaper, and of a letter from the friendly journalists on the subject. 

" Sir W, Scott's compliments to Mr. , and encloses Mr. 's 

letter and newspaper, whose good sense so readily anticipated the silly 
hoax which appeared in the London papers. Sir Walter Scott thinks 



* We need hardly remind our readers tliat it was owing to some defamatory arti- 
cles which appeared in the " Beacon," and were continued in the Glasgow " Senti- 
nel," a paper which seemed to spring from the ashes of the other, that the rencontre 
took place on the ^Oth March, 1823, betwixt Mr. Stewart, of Dunearn, and his rela- 
tive, Sir Alexander Boswell, of Auchenleck, in which the latter was killed. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 345 

he would have bestowed the greater part of his annual income to little 
purpose, if he could not have found among twenty or thirty sturdy 
labourers, whom he employs daily, as much for their sake as his own 
pleasure, enough to protect his house at any time, and against any per- 
son whatsoever, especially as it was only last January, that upwards of 
one hundred young fellows, all of the labouring class, offered him their 
service to form a company of sharpshooters, had the continuation of 
the bad prospects then in the horizon rendered such assistance neces- 
sary. The enclosed is a copy of the thanks which Sir Walter Scott 
thought it necessary to return on the occasion." 

The address to the young volunteers was written in Scott's happiest 
style, and we regret that, from its length, we are debarred from insert- 
ing it here. 

" Kenilworth" appeared in January 1821, in three volumes; thus 
making with " Ivanhoe," " The Monastery," and " The Abbot," 
twelve volumes of these splendid fictions, which if not written, were at 
least published, in as many months ! Such amazing profusion might 
well suggest the fear of speedy exhaustion, and the critics who then 
thought they could discern symptoms of decay in every fresh novel, 
might almost be pardoned their ungrounded suspicions. "Kenil- 
worth" must be ranked next to " Ivanhoe" in splendour of descrip- 
tion, and presents almost as singular a contrast to the homely Scottish 
novels. It was now evident that the author who, in the latter, seemed 
to have dwelt all his life among our Dinmonts, and Deanses, and Head- 
riggs, had, on the contrary, been trained up amid all the pomp and cir- 
cumstance of courts. He moves through that of Elizabeth like one 
who had conversed all his life with its Raleighs, its Burleighs, and its 
Shakspeares, and to have watched every glance and attitude of the 
maiden queen. In depicting the subordinates, too, the author displays 
a far more felicitous power than even Shakspeare himself, who, what- 
ever may be said of his heroes, makes his plebeians, whatever country 
or age they belong to, litde else than veritable English clowns of his 
own time. But Scott throws us amongst classes of people to whose 
habits of life and ways of thinking we were previously entire strangers, 
yet with whom we become quite familiar in the emptying of a flagon : 
and in the work before us we sit down at the board of honest Giles 
Gosling, with the jolly landlord himself, master Goldthred the silk- 
mercer from Abingdon, and Mike Lambourne — newly arrived from 
cutting throats abroad, and ready to renew his occupation for good pay 
at home — as if they had been all old acquaintances. We have one 
objection to allege against this tale ; and the fault is a somewhat sin- 

3u 



346 I^IFE OF Sm WALTER SCOTT. 

gular one for a Scotsman to fall into — and which moreover we, as 
Scotsmen, will perhaps get little credit for candour in pointing out : — 
the maiden queen is drawn in much too amiable a light. History war- 
rants us in assigning her much more of the masculine and much less of 
the feminine qualities than Scott has been pleased to endow her with ; 
and he seems to have had the splendour of her reign rather than her 
domestic conduct in his eye, while sketching her character. It is 
scarce needful to observe that Leicester also has been transformed from 
an imbecile and unprincipled sycophant, as he actually was, into an 
able though ambitious statesman, who excites both our admiration and 
sympathy. 

Betwixt .January and May 1822, appeared other two tales, "The 
Pirate" and the " Fortunes of Nigel," in three volumes each. The 
materials for the first of these had been collected so far back as the year 
1814, during the short tour which Scott made through the Hebrides, 
to select suitable localities for his " Lord of the Isles." It was one of 
the chief causes of Scott's success, and demonstrates at the same time 
the bold originality of his genius, that he occasionally selected subjects 
for his pen the most difHcult of access, and to which the reading world 
had previously been almost entire strangers. In " The Pirate," he 
has described the Zetlanders to the life, before they became assimilated 
in feeling to their Scottish neighbours, — their maritime furniture and 
food, — their insular language, ideas, prejudices, and superstitions : — 

* * ♦ ♦ " nothing of them 
But doth suffer a sea-change — " 

according to the highly appropriate motto of the work. He has also 
painted, with his characteristic vividness, all the natural features of that 
remote region — the rocky promontory, the capricious climate, the irre- 
sistible tempest, the roost, the haaf and the voe. In short, Scott 
stamped immediate notoriety on a country and people hitherto almost 
unknown, and to which even Dr. Johnson had failed to attract any 
general attention. The hospitable old Udaller, a sort of Cedric in his 
way, is an admirable portrait ; and Minna and Brenda are amongst the 
finest creations of the author's pen. The account of the family of the 
Yellowleys, is, to our mind, equal to any thing in Fielding or Smol- 
lett. The Pirate, Cleveland, is a failure — inconsistent and ill sustained ; 
nor does Noma herself leave a very favourable impression on our 
mind, although the attempted parallel between her and Meg Merrilies 
by some critics of eminence, only showed how naturally an ill-timed 
effort at unusual cleverness lapses into absurdity. 



IJFE OF SlU WALTKR SCOTT. 347 

The " Fortunes of Nigel" is perhaps behind nothing tlie author 
ever wrote, for dramatic power and masterly portraiture of character. 
Whatever grave historians have said, or may say, of King James' per- 
son and deportment, they can never do away with the associations 
which Scott's impersonation of him has conjured up. He will con- 
tinue to fidget and fret and sputter, and amble about upon his rollicking 
legs, to the amusement of all posterity. Scott had the prudence not 
to touch upon his administrative exhibitions of " king-craft," which 
will far less bear handling than any of the acts of his unfortunate suc- 
cessor. It is curious enough, however, that the author has, in this 
novel, failed most palpably in the character to which he wished to 
attach the greatest interest — that, namely, of George Heriot, who is 
certainly a much less striking personage than either Sir Mungo Mala- 
growther, or Richie Monyplies, or even Martha Trapbois. 

During the summer, succeeding the appearance of those two works, 
the attention of the Scottish public was diverted from the enjoyment of 
them by a circumstance scarcely less novel to them than the appear- 
ance of the author of Waverley himself. This was the visit of his 
majesty King George IV. to his northern metropolis. Upon this occa- 
sion the eyes of the public authorities of Auld Reekie naturally turned 
upon Sir Walter Scott, who, as the personal friend of his sovereign, 
and from his acquaintance with the pomp and ceremonials customary on 
such exhibitions, seemed to them best fitted for superintending the pre- 
parations for so momentous and unusual an event, as well as for acting 
as a kind of dragoman between the monarch and his subjects. To 
these necessary duties Scott lent himself with a zeal, which, while it 
contributed most essentially to the orderliness, spirit and dignity of all 
the proceedings, and drew forth the warm and well-merited thanks^of 
his coadjutors in the getting up of the various pageants, obtained him, 
as frequenUy happens in such cases, little credit with either of the par- 
ties chiefly concerned — the sovereign and the people. The latter una- 
ware of the multiplicity and responsible nature of the duties devolved 
upon him, conceived that he made himself too officious about the king's 
person, and manifested an overweening anxiety to push himself for- 
ward into the gaze and observation of the public. The cause of his 
sovereign's dissatisfaction will be afterwards noticed. 

When the royal squadron anchored in Leith Roads on the afternoon 
of the 14th August, Scott was one of a distinguished party who were 
the first to pay their respects to his majesty. When the latter heard 
that our author was alongside, he exclaimed, "What! Sir Walter 
Scott ! The man in Scotland I most wished to see? Let him come up." 
Scott accordingly ascended, and was received in the nost flattering 



348 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

manner by his majesty, who was stationed on the quarter-deck. 
Amongst his other duties, Scott had been deputed by the ladies of 
Scotland to present to the king a St. Andrew's cross formed of pearls, 
the produce of Scotland, and executed in the most costly style of work- 
mauship ; and he took the present opportunity of presenting his gift, 
which was received with all graciousness by the king, who afterwards 
detained him on board to dinner, making him sit on his right hand. It 
is unnecessary to dwell upon the various festivities, which took place 
during the period of his majesty's residence in Scotland, in most of 
which Scott bore a conspicuous part. Indeed, the king manifested so 
marked a predilection for his company, that he was in a manner forced 
to obtrude himself on the public notice, with a frequency totally at 
variance with his characteristic modesty and retiring disposition. At 
the royal banquet given in the parliament house, he was selected in 
preference to all the noble and wealthy there assembled, to act as vice- 
chairman. On this occasion the health of " Sir Walter Scott" was 
proposed by the Earl of Errol; and afterwards that of the "Author of 
Waverley," by Lord Ashburton. It is needless to say that to the first 
of these toasts only did the subject of them make any reply, — and that, 
as usual, a brief one. 

The occasion of his majesty's displeasure with our author, before 
alluded to, was as follows : — When the positive intelligence had been 
received at Edinburgh of the approaching royal visit, Scott drew up a 
sort of programme of the pageants and festivities which would proba- 
bly be held during his stay, as a sort of guide or manual to the public, 
who, of course, were entirely ignorant of the ceremonials intended to 
be observed on so unusual an occasion. Amongst the projected spec- 
tacles was a procession in state to the castle, with all the observances 
customary in the days of Scotland's independence as a monarchy. This 
arrangement, which was looked forward to with much gratification by 
the many hundreds of thousands then drawn into Edinburgh from all 
quarters of Scotland, was, it seems, not communicated to the king until 
after all the preparations had been made, and when told of it he at 
once expressed his aversion to the proposal in terms so peremptory as 
intimated his expectation of being no more importuned on the subject. 
Dismayed at this unexpected rebuff, the committee of management 
turned, in their extremity, to Scott, who, as the author of the project, 
and knowing well the general disappointment that would ensue from 
its falling through, cheerfully undertook the delicate task of expostula- 
ting with his royal master. He accordingly proceeded to Dalkeith 
palace, but found his mission a much more difficult one than he had 
anticipated. His majesty, it is said, expressed himself with excessive 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 349 

bitterness at the disrespect shown to himself in not consulting his 
wishes in the matter; but Scott stuck to his point, and, in short, bluntly- 
stated that his majesty must comply with the projected arrangement. 
By his respectful firmness, our author at length extorted a reluctant 
consent; but it was remarked that the king felt so much nettled at the 
constraint thus put upon his inclination, or rather his prejudices, that 
lie treated Scott with undisguised coolness for some time afterwards ; 
and indeed it was said by some that he never entirely forgave it. His 
royal ire, however, must have been somewhat mollified before his de- 
parture from Edinburgh, as the offender was made the organ of trans- 
mitting to some of the public bodies who had " turned out" with 
truly zealous loyalty, his majesty's grateful sense of the affection they 
had manifested towards his person. But the affair of the procession 
was, in more respects than one, an unfortunate one for Scott. On the 
morning of its taking place, his assistance was of course required at 
Holyrood to superintend the arrangement of the proceedings. After 
seeing all things put in proper trim, he left the palace with the inten- 
tion of privately viewing the pageant from the window of a friend's 
house in the line of the procession. It happened, however, that in 
passing up the Canongate, he found the street so blocked up with the 
crowd, that in order to get along, he was necessitated to take the space 
kept open on the " crown of the causeway" for the pageant. He thus, 
in company with his youngest son Charles — one of the king's pages 
during his royal visit — and another gentleman (his son-in-law, Mr. 
Lockhart, we believe) became a most conspicuous object to the assem- 
bled multitude, who greeted him with loud cheers. But there were 
not wanting those who were ready to impute his appearance in such 
circumstances to a love of ostentation, and to throw out a sneer about 
" Sir Walter's procession coming before the king's." Scott was too 
well aware of the misconstruction to which his situation was liable 
from envious and litde minds, and took advantage of the first opening 
to slip from the gaze and applause of the crowd. He afterwards re- 
peatedly spoke of this circumstance to some of his private friends in 
terms of the most painful anxiety, evincing how keenly he felt the 
imputation of exhibiting himself as an object of popular acclamation. 
We may safely assert, indeed, that never was so much genius associated 
with so much modesty as in Scott, and we beheve there were only 
two out of the innumerable and flattering tributes to his great name 
and fame, which he was ever heard to quote with something like com- 
plaisance in private conversation. One of these happened on the oc- 
casion of King George the Fourth's coronation. Scott had elbowed 
his way stoutly through the dense multitude for some time on his way 



350 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

back to his hotel in Abingdon street, with considerable success, but at 
last got so fast locked up in the crowd, that he was utterly unable to 
extricate himself. In this dilemma, he solicited the assistance of a 
sergeant of the Scottish Grays, who was stationed near him. Think- 
ing only of his duty, the soldier shook his head, and coldly replied, 
"I can give you no assistance, friend." Scott whispered to him, "Can 
you not help your countryman, Walter Scott?" The soldier's face 
flushed up in an instant, "Walter Scott! — Yes, sir. By G — d you 
shall have help, whatever happens!" and he immediately sent a suita- 
ble escort with his illustrious countryman. 

The other complimentary occasion mentioned by Scott is told by 
Captain Basil Hall in his account of the embarkation of the former 
for Naples, in the year 1831. One of the officers of the Barbara 
man-of-war had mentioned, that several seamen had entered for service 
in the vessel, solely in consequence of his going in her. " That's some- 
thing of a compliment, certainly," observed Scott, "but," continued 
he, laughing, "I hold that the greatest honour yet paid to my celebrity 
was by a fishmonger in London last week. Upon my servant applying 
for some cod for dinner, he found, from its being somewhat late in the 
day, that there was none to be had ; but having accidentally mentioned 
who it was wanted for, the fishmonger said, that altered the matter, 
and that if a bit was to be had in London for love or money, it should 
be at my disposal. Accordingly the man walked up with the fish all 
the way from Billingsgate to Sussex Place, in the Regent's Park. 
"Now," said he, " '\i that is not substantial Uterary reputation, I know 
not what is!" Perhaps, however, the truest compliment ever paid to 
his genius was by the poor Paisley weaver, who said, " the only com- 
fort he had in such times of distress was in reading the Author of 
Waverley's novels." 

While upon this subject, we may mention another instance of the 
magic of Scott's name, for which we have again to acknowledge our 
obligation to Mr. R. Chambers, who had it directly from the individual 
concerned in the occurrence, and whose account of it we will give in 
his own words :* — 

"Being in London at the time when Sir Walter Scott made re- 
searches among the papers of some of the government offices concern- 
ing some points in his Life of Bonaparte, I happened to be at the 
Colonial Office one day waiting in an ante-room, when Sir Walter 



* We have to observe, that this and other anecdotes in our memoir, derived from 
the same source, (unless otherwise noticed, are from the MS. collections of Mr. C. 
never before published. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 351 

came in, and sat down close by the door. Another gentleman entered 
shortly after, and giving a slight and supercilious glance at the persons 
already in the apartment, took up his station by the chimney-piece, and 
occupied himself in examining something that hung upon the wall, as 
if he did not think his companions worthy of any further attention. I 
sat in a window looking down Downing street, immediately opposite 
Sir Walter, and having been previously slightly known to him, it was 
not long till he recognised and addressed me. He asked, how 1 liked 
London? I made some reply, professing my contentment with it; on 
which Sir Walter said, ' Oh, I dare say you would like to see the hills and 
and waters of the north again, and to get a breath of pure mountain air.' 
The words were simple in themselves, but they marked his own at- 
tachment to home, and they were pronounced in such a tone of kind- 
ness as made a deep impression on me, for Sir Walter spoke to every 
man as if he had been a blood relation. I have sometimes amused 
myself with conjecturing what the gentleman who had turned his back 
upon us thought of the conversation. Perhaps he despised us as two 
* fause Scots,' who pretended to retain some traces of affection for our 
beggarly country, and some wish to return to it. If such were his 
thoughts, they must have been dispersed in an unexpected manner. 
An attendant opened the door, and pronounced the magic name ' Sir 
Walter Scott,' by way of intimation, that Mr. Hay, I believe, would 
be happy to see the baronet up stairs. Upon this, the stranger, as if he 
had received a shot, wheeled suddenly round ; but, perhaps, the only 
opportunity he had ever had of seeing that great man, who had made 
himself known to so many ears, and the friend of so many hearts, 
was lost. Sir Walter sat very near the door, and was concealed by it 
ere our companion could obtain a view of him. He gazed for a mo- 
ment; then turning round about, honoured me with a stare more par- 
ticular than he had deigned to bestow on his entrance; but having 
satisfied himself seemingly that he only saw before him a poor Scottish 
clerk, he resumed consideration of the table of official regulations, which 
he had previously made the object of study, deeming me entirely be- 
neath his notice." 

Before proceeding further, it should be mentioned, that immediately 
after the king's visit, our author was appointed one of the deputy- 
lieutenants of the county of Roxburgh. 

Scott's next work, "Peveril of the Peak," appeared early in 1823, 
in four bulky volumes. The assumed godfather to this lusty bantling, 
was the Rev. Jonas Dryasdust himself, whose prefatory letter gives 
his friend Captain Clutterbuck an account of an unexpected visit from 
their common parent, at his own mansion in the Castlegate of York. 



352 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

We shall extract a portion of this epistle, in which Scott has given a 
very faithful description of his own personal appearance at that time — 
bating his lameness, which would have been rather too significant a 
point of identity : — 

" The Author of Waverley entered, a bulky and tall man, in a travel- 
ing greatcoat, which covered a suit of snuff-brown, cut in imitation of 
that worn by the great Rambler. His flapped hat — for he disdained 
the modern frivolities of a traveling cap — was bound over liis head 
with a large silk handkerchief, so as to protect his ears from cold at 
once, and from the babble of his pleasant companions in the public 
coach, from which he had just alighted. There was somewhat of a 
sarcastic shrewdness and sense which sat on the heavy pent-house of 
his shaggy eye-brow, — his features were in other respects largely 
shaped and rather heavy than promising wit and genius ; but he had a 
notable projection of the nose, similar to that line of the Latin poet — 



-' Immoilicum surgit pro cuspide rostrum.' 



A stout walking-stick stayed his hand — a double Barcelona protected 
his neck — his belly was something prominent, ' but that not much.' 
His age seemed to be considerably above fifty, but could not amount to 
threescore, which I observed with pleasure, trusting there may be a 
good deal of work got out of him yet ; especially as a general haleness 
of appearance, — the strength and compass of his voice, — the steadiness 
of his step, — the rotundity of his calf, — the depth of his hem, — and the 
sonorous emphasis of his sneeze, were all signs of a constitution built 
for permanence. It struck me forcibly, as I gazed on this portly per- 
son, that he realized, in my imagination, the Stout Gentleman in 
No. H., who afforded such subject of varying speculation to our most 
amusing and elegant Utopian traveller. Master Geoflry Crayon." 
Having partaken of the substantial refreshments placed before him, ere 
a word is spoken by his host, with a relish and avidity ' which would 
have attracted the envy of a hungry hunter after a fox-chase of forty 
miles,' he is complimented by the reverend gentleman on his dexterity 
as a trencherman. " ' Sir,' was his reply, 'I must eat as an English- 
man, to qualify myself for taking my place at one of the most select 
companies of right EngUsh spirits which ever girdled in, and hewed 
asunder, a mountainous sirloin, and a generous plum-pudding." 

The company here humorously glanced at, was the Roxburghe 
club of London, who had just then elected him a member of their asso- 



LIFE or Slli WALTER SCOTT. 353 

elation, simply us the Jluthor of f'f'averley, without any other designa- 
tion. The case stood thus : Early in 1823, a vacancy occurred in the 
Roxburghe club, (which admits only a limited number of members, all 
of the first distinction, either in rank or talent,) by the death of one of 
the members, when it was proposed by Earl Spencer, the president, to 
fill up the vacant chair by the election of the " Unknown Jluthor of 
WaverleyJ'^ This proposal being agreed to, Dr. Dibbin, the secretary, 
was requested to address Sir Walter Scott on the subject, and received, 
in consequence, the two following letters in reply. 

" My dear Sir, — I was duly favoured with your letter, which 
proves one point against the unknown Author of Waverley ; namely, 
that he is certainly a Scotsman, since no other nation pretends to the 
advantage of second sight. Be he who or where he may, he must cer- 
tainly feel the very high honour which has selected him, neminis um- 
bra, to a situation so worthy of envy. 

" As his personal appearance in the fraternity is not like to be a 
speedy event, one may presume he may be desirous of offering some 
test of his gratitude in the shape of a reprint, or such-like kickshaw, 
and for this purpose you had better send me the statutes of your learned 
body, which I will engage to send him in safety. 

" It will follow as a characteristic circumstance, that the table of the 
Roxburghe, like that of king Arthur, will have a vacant chair, like that 
of Banquo at Macbeth's banquet. But if this author, who ' hath fern- 
seed and walketh invisible,' should not appear to claim it before I come 
to London, (should I ever be there again,) with permission of the club, 
I, who have something of adventure in me, although a knight like Sir 
Andrew Aguecheek, dubbed with unpacked rapier, and on carpet con- 
sideration, would rather than lose the chance of a dinner with the Rox- 
burghe Club, take upon me the adventure of the siege perilous, and 
reap some amends for perils and scandals into which the invisible 
champion has drawn me, by being his locum tenens on so distinguished 
an occasion. 

" It will be not uninteresting to you to know, that a fraternity is 
about to be established here something on the plan of the Roxburghe 
Club; but, having Scottish antiquities chiefly in view, it is to be called 
the Bannatyne Club, from the celebrated antiquary, George Bannatyne, 
who compiled by far the greatest records of old Scottish poetry. The 
first meeting is to be held on Thursday, when the health of the Rox- 
burghe Club will be drank. I am always, my dear sir, your most 
faithful humble servant, 

" VV ALTER Scott." 
''Edinburgh, Feb. 25, 1823." 

2v 



354 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

" My dear Sir, — I am duly honoured with your very interesthig 
and flattering communication. Our Highlanders have a proverbial say- 
ing, founded on the traditional renown of Fingal's dog, 'If it is not 
Bran,' they say, ' it is Bran's brother.' Now this is always taken as 
a compliment of the first class, whether applied to an actual cur, or 
parabolically to a biped ; and, upon the same principle, it is with no 
small pride and gratification that the Roxburghe Club have been so 
very flatteringly disposed to accept me as a locum tenens for the un- 
known author whom they have made the child of their adoption. As 
sponsor, I will play my part as well as I can : and should the real Simon 
Pure make his appearance to push me from my stool, why 1 shall have 
at least the satisfaction of having enjoyed it. 

' They cannot say but what I had the crown.' 

" Besides, I hope the devil does not owe me such a shame. Mad 
Tom tells us, that the Prince of Darkness is a gentleman ; and this 
mysterious personage will, 1 hope, partake as much of his honourable 
feeling as of his invisibility, and, resuming his incognito, permit me to 
enjoy, in his stead, an honour which I value more than 1 do that which 
has been bestowed on me by the credit of having written any of his 
novels. 

" 1 regret deeply I cannot soon avail myself of my new privileges ; 
but courts, which I am under the necessity of attending, officially sit 
down in a few days, and, hei nihi J do not arise for vacation until July. 
But 1 hope to be in town next spring ; and certainly I have one strong 
additional reason for a London journey, furnished by the pleasure of 
meeting the Roxburghe Club. Make my most respectful compliments 
to the members at their next merry meeting ; and express, in the 
warmest manner, my sense of obligation. I am always, my dear sir, 
very much your most obedient servant. 

" Walter Scott." 

'' Mbotsfonl, May 1, 1823." 

It need only be further mentioned in reference to this transaction — so 
mutually honourable to both parties — that Scott only met their club 
once at their anniversary in 1825. 

A few months after " Peveril of the Peak," appeared "Quentin 
Durward," in three volumes ; a work remarkable for the masterly 
delineation of the singular character of Louis XL, whom some of his 
biographers represent as an incarnation of the devil himself. This 
work was much more popular than many of its predecessors, and 
greatly extended their author's fame on the continent. Our French 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 355 

neighbours began to regard him with a sort of national affection, so tho- 
roughly did he appear at home in all that related to their ancient habits 
and history. 

In the following year, 1824, came out " St. Ronau's Well" and 
" Redgauntlet," in three volumes each. The former was upon a plan 
entirely new to our author, in as far as it dealt with the scenes and 
characters of our own times, and where he was of course limited to the 
region of modern every-day life. Here, therefore, he ventured into a 
field already crowded with literary competitors of high and deserved 
fame, and the consequence, as was to be expected, was the onset of the 
whole hive of southern critics about his ears, each holding forth against 
him the favourite work of his favourite author, like old Sheriff of Kirk- 
aldy shooting at Satan with the pulpit Bible. All was of no avail, 
however, for although our Enghsh brethren were for a while influenced 
by the storm of vituperation, the author's own countrymen felt and 
acknowledged that his right hand had not forgot its cunning. Touch- 
wood and Meg Dods, the clergyman Cargill, and worthy Mrs. Blower 
from the Bowhead, are amongst his very best characters. 

In " Redgauntlet," Scott took his last farewell of the " auld Stuart 
race," — although from the sort of lingering affection he seemed to cher- 
ish towards that family and their adherents, we fully expected he 
would have celebrated high mass over the remains of Cardinal York. 
Scott has, on this account, been charged with Jacobitism ; and, indeed, 
some ninnies have alleged his indulgence of this sentiment in his 
writings, as his prime reason for keeping his name so long a mystery. 
These people understand not the characters or feelings of Scotsmen of 
our author's generation. They were Jacobites in feeling, but not in 
principle. They cherished towards the exile family only that heredi- 
tary veneration for exalted birth so inherent in the national character, 
mingled with sorrow for their downfall, and regret for the reasons 
which necessitated their expulsion. So felt Scott, both as a Scotsman 
and a poet, — the latter, as Shenstone fancifully, though perhaps not 
less justly, observes, being naturally addicted to hereditary attach- 
ments — in short, a Tory by nature.* 



♦ " As for politics," says the adorner of the Leasowes, " I think poets are tories 
by nature, supposing them to be by nature poets. The love of an individual person 
or family that has worn a crown for many successions is an inclination greatly 
adapted to the fanciful tribe. On the other hand, mathematicians, abstract reasoners, 
of no manner of attachment to persons, at least of the visible part of them, but 
prodigiously devoted to the ideas of virtue, liberty and so forth, are generally Whigs." 
— Shenslonc's Letters, 1746. 



356 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

In 1825, came out the " Crusaders," in four volumes, of which the 
" Talisman" is one of the finest eastern talcs in the English language, 
and shows how easy it is for true genius to overcome the obstacles 
which space, time, and circumstances can interpose to its flight. The 
" Betrothed" is a much inferior work, and is thought still more so from 
the inapplicability of the general title to it. It ought to be called a 
Romance of the Cymry, rather than a Tale of the Crusades. 

In the summer of this year. Sir Walter visited Ireland, accompanied 
by his son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart, and his two daughters, Mrs. Lock- 
hart and Miss Scott. Intending this excursion to be quite of a private 
nature, and chiefly as a visit to his son. Captain Scott of the 15th Hus- 
sars, then quartered in Dublin, he gave no little ofTence to several 
public bodies, by declining to encounter their eloquence at various 
splendid entertainments to which he was invited. But although he 
could avoid the ceremonious and got-iip courtesies of his Irish admi- 
rers, it was not easy to escape from the unstudied, and therefore more 
gratifying, indications of admiration from the promiscuous crowd. He 
went to the theatre one night, accompanied by Miss Edge worth, Mr. 
Lockhart, and his two daughters. He had not been long in the house 
when an uproar commenced in the galleries, to the great annoyance of 
those below — the more so that the repeated cheers which were vollied 
forth by the gods were quite unintelligible to the less exalted part of 
the audience. At last the thunder became so continued and deafening 
that the actors were proceeding in dumb show : the curtain fell — the 
manager appeared, and humbly asked the deities what they pleased to 
want? " Sir Walter Scott !" was the laconic and truly Irish response 
of some hundreds of voices ; and the manager, unaware of the presence 
of his distinguished visiter, retired quite disconcerted, fancying, doubt- 
less, that the unreasonable boys had taken a fancy to have the illustrious 
author introduced in character on his boards. Some quicker wits in 
the pit, however, caught the hint, and soon distinguished the object of 
their godships' acclamations : the intelligence spread like wild-fire ; 
the whole house rose with one consent, and greeted him in the most 
enthusiastic manner. Scott acknowledged as usual in brief terms this 
flattering and unsophisticated testimony of public admiration, and again 
sat down amid reiterated plaudits. 

Amongst other objects of curiosity, Scott of course visited the tomb 
of the dean of St. Patrick's, and appeared unwontedly affected whilst 
gazing on that monument and on the cenotaph on which the name of 
Stella was engraved. He then examined the library of St. Sepulchre, 
in the course of which a scene is related to have occurred betwixt 
himself and the deputy-librarian, which is highly characteristic of the 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 357 

coolness and caution with which he preserved his incognito relative to 
the authorship of the Waverley novels. The official, while showing 
the baronet through the endless squares of folios and streets of quartos, 
conceived that if he could throw the Great Unknown off his guard, 
and discover the grand secret, he would have a fairer chance for immor- 
tality than if he passed the remainder of his life presiding in the guar- 
dianship of the bibliothecal progeny committed to his care. With this 
intent he entered into some familiar conversation with him, and care- 
lessly abandoning the immediate theme, "Do you know, Sir Walter," 
said he, " that it was only lately I've had time to get through your 
Redgauntlet?" — "Sir," replied Scott, with perfect composure, "I 
never met with such a book." Before leaving Dublin, Scott also visit- 
ed the widow of the gifted Maturin, and volunteered his influence in 
getting a tragedy, written by her husband, shortly before his death, 
brought out on the stage or published for the benefit of his family. 
This piece, of which the name has escaped us, was afterwards per- 
formed on the Dublin boards, but we have not learned that it has ever 
been published. 

After leaving Dublin, he proceeded, accompanied by his friend Miss 
Edgeworth and his family, on a tour through the lakes of Killarney, 
and thence to Cork, where the city corporation presented him with the 
freedom of the town in a silver box. He then returned to Dublin, and 
after a month's sojourn in the Green Isle, took shipping for Holyhead, 
The party then proceeded to the lakes of Cumberland, where, with his 
solemn-souled brother in poesy, Wordsworth, as his guide and com- 
panion, our author spent some weeks in contemplating the diversified 
beauty of the scenery of Mere-land ; not forgetting a visit to the author 
of Thalaba, who always held a high place in Scott's estimation. The 
little party then proceeded homewards, where they arrived in safety 
and high spirits. 

Having now arrived at that phase of Scott's life, when the star of 
his prosperity may be said to have reached its extreme point of cul- 
mination ; or, to vary the metaphor, having now seen him placed on 
the topmost round of Fortune's wheel, we will pause a while to con- 
template the high and happy situation to which his splendid genius and 
prodigious industry, no less than his unprecedented success, had raised 
him, ere we trace that fatal revolution which precipitated him into an 
abyss of misfortune, in the effort of extricating himself from which 
his mighty mind at last sunk. 

We cannot introduce this part of our subject better than in our au- 
thor's own words, where, in the introduction to the late edition of the 
■" Chronicles of the Canongate," he takes a sorrowful, yet resigned, 



358 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

retrospective glance at the height from which he had fallen. " Through 
the success of my hterary efforts," says he, "I liad been enabled to 
indulge some of the tastes which a retired person of my station might 
be supposed to entertain. In the pen of this nameless romancer, I 
seemed to possess something like the secret fountain of coined gold 
and pearls, vouchsafed to the traveller of the Eastern Tale ; and no 
doubt believed that I might venture, without silly imprudence, to ex- 
tend my personal expenditure considerably beyond what I should have 
thought of, had my means been limited to the competence which I de- 
rived from inheritance, with the moderate income of a professional 
situation. I bought, and built, and planted, and was considered by 
myself, as by the rest of the world, in the safe possession of an easy 
fortune." 

We cannot understand very well how Scott came to flatter himself 
with this idea, for the fact is, that although he must at this time (1825) 
have been in the annual receipt of some where about £10,000 a year — 
reckoning the emoluments of his ofiicial situations with the average 
profits of his literary labours — yet he was still in as continual want of 
ready money as ever, as will be evident from his cash transactions 
with Ballantyne and Constable, to be afterwards exhibited. From the 
information of those who had pretty certain means of ascertaining the 
economy (if it can be so called) of his style of living at this lime, we 
feel warranted in setting down his personal expenses — that is to say, 
of himself, family, and household in town and country — at £5000 a 
year; the rest was consumed in the "buying, building and planting" 
he speaks of above. How he came to consider himself, therefore, in 
these circumstances, in the possession of an " easy fortune," we are at 
a loss to imagine, for his territorial acquisitions then yielded a return of 
not more than £200 or £300 a year. But let this pass in the mean 
time. Scott still continued to reside in Cnstle Street, during the sit- 
tings of the Court of Session, attending daily at his post in the First 
Division ; but his heart was at Abbotsford, and not a day — not an hour 
— did he remain in town, when he could possibly escape from it. So 
eager was his affection for this creation of his purse and fancy, that on 
the days when the court rose for the terms of vacation, and not unfre- 
quently on the Saturdays during its sittings, his coach was in readiness 
for him at the door of the parliament house, and he drove off direct to 
the country without calling at his town residence. Whilst residing at 
Abbotsford, he seemed so constantly engaged in superintending his 
agricultural and planting operations during the earlier part of the day, and 
with company in the evening, that it appeared impossible that he could 
find leisure for the composition of those works which were keeping 
the whole world in a state of continued excitation. His habits, how- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 359 

ever, were methodical. He usually commenced writing about seven 
o'clock in the morning, and continued at his desk, bating the interval 
of breakfast, till one or two in the afternoon : then shaved, dressed, 
and rode or walked out to visit his grounds and improvements till din- 
ner time. The evening he dedicated solely to amusement, either in 
reading, listening to his daughter playing on the harp or piano-forte, or 
in entertaining company, — the latter of which, indeed, he was scarcely 
ever without. By this uniform system of economising his time, he 
managed to write, on an average, to the amount of a sheet, or sixteen 
pages of print per day. The secret was, — he was always alike pre- 
pared: he wrote without study or premeditation, and when he wrote 
fastest he wrote best, for then his mind was most redolent of the 
" thick-coming fancies" of his genius. One of the most remarkable, 
at once, and amiable characteristics of Scott, was the entire absence of 
any thing like the airs of authorship in his language and deportment, 
although, beyond doubt, the most voluminous and successful of all 
British writers in ancient or modern times. He left the author in his 
study, and came forth into the world the plain country gentleman, 
taking his part in the common details of life, and exchanging the usual 
courtesies of society. It is from their inability, or their disdaining, 
to pursue a similar rational course, — to enter with interest into the 
affairs of the world, and to regulate their manners and deportment ac- 
cording to the observances imposed by the conventional rules of socie- 
ty, that literary men are, for the most part, found rather a nuisance than 
an acquisition in general company. 

When he rode out, Scott was usually dressed in a short green coat, 
wide trowsers, and stout shoes; and he bestrode a stout litde Gallo- 
way, fitted for climbing the braes, and from which he could dismount, 
and get up upon again, with ease. He always carried with him a 
small hatchet or hand-saw — frequently both — with which he amused 
and exercised himself in lopping off superfluous boughs from the 
trees, and sometimes cut down an entire one where he saw occasion. 
He was always attended by two favourite stag-hounds — very fine ani- 
mals — one of which, called Maida, was a present from " the last of all 
the chieftains," the late Glengarry. He has consecrated to immortality 
the memory of this favourite, in his novel of Woodstock, under the 
name of Bevis ; and a fine painting of it, by Landseer, is preserved at 
Blair-Adam, the property of lord chief commissioner Adam.* To those 

♦ In a note at the end of Woodstock, Scott says, " I cannot suppress the avowal 
of some personal vanity when I mention, that a friend, going through Munich, 
picked up a common snutT-box, such as are sold for one franc, on which was display- 
ed the form of this veteran favourite, simply ujarkcd as — " Dor leiblung hund von 
Walter Scott." 



360 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

employed on his grounds he always spoke in the most kindly and 
familiar terms ; never assuming the haughty port of the patron and 
master, but addressing them rather with the encouraging frankness of a 
friend, the consequence was, that he was universally beloved by his 
inferiors, equally by those dependent on himself, and all in the sur- 
rounding district. We have heard, however, that he was rather im- 
patient of promiscuous intruders on his property, and latterly manifest- 
ed the usual aristocratic prejudice against the poachers by land and 
water. But he was never known to prosecute any one, and contented 
himself with requesting the trespasser to quit the bounds of his do- 
main. It is customary amongst our popular declaimers on the subject 
of liberty, and the rights and innocent recreations of " the people," to 
stigmatise this jealous disposition on the part of landed proprietors, as 
merely the manifestation of a tyrannical mind, and of a wanton 
pleasure in oppressing and lording it over those whom their own su- 
perior wealth and rank have constituted their inferiors. We have cer- 
tainly no grounds for becoming defenders of the game-laws or the 
trespass-acts, but we may observe, that were one of those liberal- 
tongued advocates of universal toleration possessed — as indeed, it is 
one of the characteristics of their sect not to be so — of a property upon 
which it was his pleasure to expend his time, ingenuity, and funds, in 
enclosing, planting, and improving, we believe in our conscience he 
would manifest every whit as much impatience at seeing his young 
trees pulled up, or cut down for switches, and his fences broken through 
by every nameless vagrant, as those against whom, in his unpropertied 
condition, he delights in launching the thunders of his philanthropic 
indignation. Scott was proud of his self-acquired acres, and in one 
sense he might well be so, seeing that he had within a few years, from 
the unassisted stores of his own ingenuity, and the profits of his litera- 
ry labours, literally converted a wild district of barren and unsheltered 
moorland into a rich scene of romantic beauty and repose. It is little 
wonder, therefore, that he watched with a sort of paternal jealousy 
over the welfare of this self-created Eden. Respecting the mansion of 
Abbotsford itself — the successor of the humble onstead of Cartley-hold 
— the most expressive general description is undoubtedly that of the 
Frenchman, a "Romance in Stone and Lime;" and we believe the best 
minute detail of the architecture and plenishing of this singular abode, 
is that of Scott's Trans-Atlantic biographer, J. W. Lake, Esq. who 
visited it in the very year at which we have now arrived, 1825. It is, 
indeed, almost inventorial, and we will make no apology for trans- 
ferring to our pages that portion of it referring more particularly to the 
internal structure and furnishing of the building. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 361 

" Not being skilled in the technical tongue of the architects, I beg 
leave to decline describing the structure of the house, further than mere- 
ly to say, that it is more than one hundred and fifty feet long in front, 
as I paced it; was built at two different onsets; has a tall tower at ei- 
ther end, the one not the least like the other; presents sundry crowfoot' 
ed, alias zigzagged, gables to the eye ; a myriad of indentions and pa- 
rapets and machicolatcd eaves; most phantastic waterspouts; labelled 
windows, not a few of them of painted glass; groups of right Eliza- 
bethan chimneys; balconies of divers fashions, greater and lesser; 
stones carved with heraldries innumerable let in here and there in the 
wall ; and a very noble projecting gateway, a fac simile, I am told, of 
that appertaining to a certain dilapidated royal palace. From this, 
porchway, which is spacious and airy, quite open to the elements in 
front, and adorned with some enormous petrified stag-horns overhead, 
you are admitted by a pair of folding doors at once into the hall, and an 
imposing coup d^ceil the first glimpse of the poet's interior does present. 
The lofty windows, only two in number, being wholly covered with 
coats of arms, the place appears as dark as the twelfth century, on your 
first entrance from noonday ; but the delicious coolness of the atmos- 
phere is luxury enough for a minute or two ; and by degrees your eyes 
get accustomed to the effect of those ' storied panes,' and you are satis- 
fied that you stand in one of the most picturesque of apartments. The 
hall is, I should guess, about forty feet long, by twenty in height and 
breadth. The walls are of richly carved oak, most part of it exceed- 
ingly dark, and brought, it seems, from the old palace of Dunfermline: 
the roof, a series of pointed arches of the same, each beam presenting 
in the centre a shield of arms richly blazoned: of these shields there 
are sixteen, enough to bear all the quarterings of a perfect pedigree, if 
the poet could show them ; but on the maternal side, (at the extremity,) 
there are two or three blanks (of the same sort which made Louis le 
Grand unhappy,) which have been covered with sketches of Cloudland, 
and equipped with the appropriate motto, ' Nox alta velat.^ The shields, 
properly filled up, are distinguished ones; the descent of Scott and Har- 
den on one side, and Rutherford of that ilk on the other. There is a 
door-way at the eastern end, over and round which the baronet has 
placed another series of escutcheons, which I looked on with at least as 
much respect; they are the meinorials of his immediate personal con- 
nections, the bearings of his friends and companions. All around the 
cornice of this noble room, there runs a continued series of blazoned 
shields, of another sort still ; at the centre of one end, I saw the bloody 
heart of Douglas; and opposite to that, the royal lion of Scotland, — 
and between the ribs there is an inscription in black letter, which I, after 
some trials, read, and of which I wish I had had sense enough to take 

2x 



362 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

a copy. To the best of my recollection, the words are not unlike these : 
' These be the coat armories of the clannis and chief men of name, wha 
keepit the marchys of Scotland in the auld tyme for the kinge. Trewe 
were they in their tyme, and in their defense God them defendyt.' 
There are from thirty to forty shields thus distinguished — Douglas, Sou- 
lis, Buccleuch, Maxwell, Johnstoune, Glendoning, Herries, Rutherford, 
Kerr, Elliot, Pringle, Home, and all the other heroes, as you may guess, 
of the border minstrelsy. The floor of this hall is black and white 
marble, from the Hebrides, wrought lozengewise ; and the upper walls 
are completely hung with arms and armour. Two full suits of splen- 
did steel occupy niches at the eastern end by themselves ; the one an 
English suit of Henry the Fifth's time, the other an Italian, not quite so 
old. The variety of cuirasses, black and white, plain and sculptured, 
is endless ; helmets are in equal profusion ; stirrups and spurs, of every 
fantasy, dangle about and below them; and there are swords of every 
order, from the enormous two-handed weapon with which the Swiss 
peasants dared to withstand the spears of the Austrian chivalry, to the 
claymore of the ' forty-five,' and the rapier of Dettingen. Indeed, I 
might come still lower, for, among other spoils, I saw Polish lances, ga- 
thered by the author of Paul's Letters on the field of Waterloo, and a 
complete suit of chain-mail taken oif the corpse of Tippoo's body- 
guard at Seringapatam. A series of German executioners' swords was 
inter alia pointed out to me ; on the blade of one of which I made out 
the arms of Augsburg, and a legend which may be thus rendered : 

Dust, when I strike to dust: from sleepless grave, 
Sweet Jesu, stoop, a sin-stained soul to save. 

I am sorry there is no catalogue of this curious collection. Sir Walter 
ought to make one himself, for my cicerone informs me there is some 
particular history attached to almost every piece in it, and known in 
detail to nobody but himself. ' Stepping westward,' as Wordsworth 
says, ' from this hall, you find yourself in a narrow, low arched room, 
which runs quite across the house, having a blazoned window again at 
either extremity, and filled all over with smaller pieces of armour and 
weapons, such as swords, firelocks, spears, arrows, darts, daggers, 6z;c. 
Here are the pieces, esteemed most precious by reason of their histo- 
ries respectively. [ saw, among the rest, Rob Roy's gun, with his ini- 
tials, R. M. C. i. €. Robert Macgregor Campbell, round the touch-hole: 
the blunderbuss of Hofer, a present to Sir Walter from his friend Sir 
Humphrey Davy; a most magnificent sword, as magnificently mounted, 
the gift of Charles the First to the great Montrose, and having the arms 
of prince Henry worked on the hilt; the hunting bottle of bonnie king 
Jamie; Bonaparte's pistols, (found in his carriage at Waterloo, I be- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 363 

lieve,) cum multis aliis. I should have mentioned that stag-horns and 
bull's-horns, (the petrified reUcs of the old mountain monster, I mean,) 
and so forth, are suspended in great abundance above all the door-ways 
of these armories ; and that, in one corner, a dark one as it ought to be, 
there is a complete assortment of the old Scotish instruments of torture, 
not forgetting the very thumbiekins under which cardinal Carstairs did 
not flinch, and the more terrific iron crown of Wishart the martyr, be- 
ing a sort of barred head-piece, screwed on the victim at the stake, to 
prevent him from crying aloud in his agony. In short, there can be no 
doubt that, like Grose of merry memory, the mighty minstrel 

Has a fouth o' auld nick-nackets, 



Rusty aim caps and jingling jackets, 
Wad haud the Lothians three in tackets, 
A towmont' guid. 

These relics of other, and for the most part darker years, are disposed, 
however, with so much grace and elegance, that I doubt if Mr. Hope 
himself would find any thing to quarrel with in the beautiful apartments 
which contain them. The smaller of these opens to the drawing-room 
on one side and the dining-room on the other, and is fitted up with low 
divans rather than sofas; so as to make, I doubt not, a most agreeable 
sitting-room when the apartments are occupied, as for my sins I found 
them not. In the hall, when the weather is hot, the baronet is accus- 
tomed to dine ; and a gallant refectory no question it must make. A 
ponderous chandelier of painted glass swings from the roof; and the 
chimney-piece, (the design copied from the stone-work of the Abbot's 
Stall at Melrose,) would hold rafters enough for a Christmas fire of the 
good old times. Were the company suitably attired, a dinner-party 
here would look like a scene in the Mysteries of Udolpho. 

" Beyond this smaller, or rather, I should say, the narrower armory, 
lies the dining-parlour proper, however; and though there is nothing 
Udolphoish here, yet I can well believe that, when Hghted up and the 
curtains drawn at night, the place may give no bad notion of the pri- 
vate snuggery of some lofty lord abbot of the time of the Canterbury 
Tales. The room is a very handsome one, with a low and very richly 
carved roof of dark oak again ; a huge projecting bow window, and the 
dais elevated more majorum: the ornaments of the roof, niches for 
lamps, &c., in short, all the minor details, are, I believe, fac similes 
afl;er Melrose. The walls are hung in crimson, but almost entirely co- 
vered with pictures, of which the most remarkable are — the parliament- 
ary general. Lord Essex, a full length on horseback; the duke of Mon- 
mouth, by Lely ; a capital Hogarth by himself; Prior and Gay, both 
by Jervas ; and the head of Mary Queen of Scots, in a charger, painted 



364 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

by Amias Canrood the day after the decapitation at Fotheringay, and 
sent some years ago as a present to Sir Walter from a Prussian noble- 
man, in whose family it had been for more than two centuries. It is a 
most death-like performance, and the countenance answers well enough 
to the coins of the unfortunate beauty, though not at all to any of the 
portraits I have happened to see. I believe there is no doubt as to the 
authenticity of this most curious picture. Among various family pic- 
tures, I noticed particularly Sir Walter's gi-eat grandfather, the old ca- 
valier mentioned in one of the epistles in Marmion, who let his beard 
grow after the execution of Charles the First, and who here appears ac- 
cordingly, with a most venerable appendage of silver whiteness, I'each- 
ing even unto his girdle. This old gentleman's son hangs close by him; 
and had it not been for the costume, &c., I should have taken it for a 
likeness of Sir Walter himself. It is very like the common portraits of 
the poet, though certainly not like either Sir Thomas Lawrence's pic- 
ture or Chantrey's bust. There is also a very splendid full-length of 
Luey Waters, mother to the duke of Monmouth : and an oval, capitally 
painted, of Anne, duchess of Buccleuch, the same who, 

In pride of youth, in beauty's bloom, 
Had wept o'er Monmouth's bloody tomb. 

All the furniture of this room is massy Gothic oak ; and, as I said be- 
fore, when it is fairly lit up, and plate and glass set forth, it must needs 
have a richly and luxuriously antique aspect. Beyond and alongside 
are narrowish passages, which make one fancy one's self in the pene- 
tralia of some dim old monastery ; for roofs, and walls, and windows 
(square, i*ound, and oval like) are sculptured in stone, after the richest 
relics of Melrose and Roslin Chapel. One of these leads to a charming 
breakfast room, which looks to the Tweed on one side, and towards Yar- 
row and Fittrick, famed in song, on the other: a cheerful room, fitted up 
with novels, romances, and poetry, I could perceive, at one end ; and 
the other walls covered thick and thicker with a most valuable and 
beautiful collection of water-colour drawings, chiefly by Turner, and 
Thomson of Duddingtone, the designings, in short, for the magnificent 
work entitled ' Provincial Antiquities of Scotland.' There is one very 
grand oil painting over the chimney piece, Fastcastlc, by Thomson, alias 
the Wolf's Crag of the Bride of Lammermoor, one of the most majes- 
tic and melancholy sea-pieces I ever saw :* and some large black and 
white drawings of the Vision of Don Roderick, by Sir James Steuart 
of Allenton, (whose illustrations of Marmion and Mazeppa you have 

* In a note to the late edition of Iiis novels, Scott mentions that the original 
of Wolfs Crag is the Kaim of Uric on the east coast of Scotland. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 365 

seen or heard of,) are at one end of the parlour. The room is cram- 
med with queer cabinets and boxes, and in a niche there is a bust of old 
Henry Mackenzie, by Josoph of Edinburgh. Returning towards the 
armory, you have, on one side of a most i-eUgious-looking corridor, a 
small greenhouse with a fountain playing before it — the very fountain 
that in days of yore graced the cross of Edinburgh, and used to flow 
with claret at the coronation of the Stuarts — a pretty design, and a 
standing monument of the barbarity of modern innovation. From the 
small armory you pass, as I said before, into the drawing-room, a large, 
lofty, and splendid salon, with antique ebony furniture and crimson silk 
hangings, cabinets, china, and mirrors, quantum suff., and some por- 
traits; among the rest, glorious John Dryden, by Sir Peter Lely, with 
his gray hairs floating about in a most picturesque style, eyes full of 
wildness, presenting the old bard, I take it, in one of those ' tremulous 
moods,' in which we have it on record he appeared when interrupted in 
the midst of his Alexander's Feast. From this you pass into the largest 
of all the apartments, the library, which, I must say, is really a noble 
room. It is an oblong of some fifty feet by thirty, with a projection in 
the centre, opposite the fire-place, terminating in a grand bow-window, 
fitted up with books also, and, in fact, constituting a sort of chapel to 
the church. The roof is of carved oak again — a very rich pattern — I 
believe chiefly a la Roslin, and the bookcases, which are also of richly 
carved oak, reach high up the walls all round. The collection amounts, 
in this room, to some fifteen or twenty thousand volumes, arranged ac- 
cording to their subjects : British history and antiquities filling the whole 
of the chief wall ; English poetry and drama, classics and miscellanies, 
one end ; foreign literature, chiefly French and German, the other. The 
cases on the side opposite the fire are wired and locked, as containing 
articles very precious and very portable. One consisting entirely of 
books and MSS. relating to the insurrections of 1715 and 1745; and 
another (within the recess of the bow-window) of treatises de re magica, 
both of these being, (I am told, and can well believe,) in their several 
ways, collections of the rarest curiosity. My cicerone pointed out, in 
one corner, a magnificent set of Mo^ntfaucon, ten volumes folio, bound 
in the richest manner in scarlet, and stamped with the royal arms, the 
gift of his present majesty. There are few living authors of whose 
works presentation copies are not to be found here. My friend showed 
me inscriptions of that sort in, I believe, every European dialect extant. 
The books are all in prime condition, and bindings that would satisfy 
Mr. Dibdin. The only picture is Sir Walter's eldest son, in hussar uni- 
form, and holding his horse, by Allan of Edinburgh, a noble portrait, 
over the fireplace; and the only bust is that of Shakspeare, from the 
Avon monument, in a small niche in the centre of the east side. On a 



366 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

rich stand of porphyry, in one corner, reposes a tall silver urn filled 
with bones from the Piroeus, and bearing the inscription, ' Given by 
George Gordon, Lord Byron, to Sir Walter Scott, Bart.' It contained 
the letter which accompanied the gift till lately : it has disappeared ; no 
one guesses who took it, but whoever he was, as my guide observed, he 
must have been a thief for thieving's sake truly, as he durst no more 
exhibit his autograph than tip himself a bare bodkin. Sad, infamous 
tourist indeed! Although I saw abundance of comfortable looking 
desks and arm-chairs, yet this room seemed rather too large and fine for 
work, and I found accordingly, after passing a double pair of doors, that 
there was a sanctum within and beyond this library. And here you 
may believe was not to me the least interesting, though by no means 
the most splendid part of the suite. 

" The lion's own den, proper, then, is a room of about five and twenty 
feet square by twenty feet high, containing, of what is properly called fur- 
niture, nothing but a small writing-table in the centre, a plain arm-chair 
covered with black-leather — a very comfortable one though, for I tried 
it — and a single chair besides, plain symptoms that this is no place for 
company. On either side of the fire-place there are shelves filled with 
duodecimos and books of reference, chiefly, of course, folios; but except 
these there are no books save the contents of a light gallery which runs 
round three sides of the room, and is reached by a hanging stair of 
carved oak in one corner. There are only two portraits, an original of 
the beautiful and melancholy head of Claverhcuse, and a small full 
length of Rob Roy. Various little antique cabinets stand round about, 
each having a bust on it : Stothard's Canterbury Pilgrims are on the 
mantel-piece ; and in one corner I saw a collection of really useful wea- 
pons, those of the forest-craft, to wit, — axes and bills, and so forth, of 
every calibre. There is only one window pierced in a very thick wall, 
so that the place is rather sombre : the light tracery-work of the gallery 
overhead harmonizes with the books well. It is a very comfortable 
looking room, and very unlike any other I ever was in. I should not 
forget some Highland claymores, clustered round a target over the 
Canterbury people, nor a writing-box of carved wood, lined with crim- 
son velvet, and furnished with silver plate of right venerable aspect, 
which looked as if it might have been the implement of old Chaucer 
himself, but which, from the arms on the lid, must have belonged to 
some Italian prince of the days of Leo the Magnificent at the fuithest. 

" The view of the Tweed from all the principal apartments is beautiful. 
You look out from among bowers, over a lawn of sweet turf, upon the 
clearest of all streams, fringed with the wildest of bii'ch- woods, and back- 
ed with the green hills of Ettrick Forest. The rest you must imagine. 
Altogether, the place destined to receive so many pilgrimages, contains 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 367 

within itself beauties not unworthy of its associations. Few poets ever in- 
habited such a place ; and none, ere now, ever created one." 

From this lively and poetical description, our readers will be able to 
form some idea of the internal appearance of Abbotsford, but it would 
occupy volumes to enumerate all the curiosities which were there con- 
gregated from every quarter of the known world. A menagerie might 
almost have been formed out of the zoological presents he received from 
distant lands. " A friend told me," says Allan Cunningham, " he was 
at Abbotsford one evening when a servant announced a present from — 
I forget what chieftain in the North. ' Bring it in,' said the poet. The 
sound of strange feet were soon heard, and in came two beautiful Shet- 
land ponies, with long manes and uncut tails, and so small, that they 
might have been sent to Elfland to the Queen of the Fairies herself. 
One poor Scotsman, to show his gratitude for some kindness, Scott, as 
sheriff, had shown him, sent two kangaroos from New Holland; and 
Washington Irving lately told me, that some Spaniard or other, having 
caught two young wild Andalusian boars, consulted him how he might 
have them sent to the author of the ' Vision of Den Roderick.' " But 
our limits forbid us dwelling longer on this theme. 

Such were the domains and such the habitation of our illustrious 
author, in the creation of which he has been heai'd to declare that he 
felt greater pride than in being the author of all the wonderful produc- 
tions of his pen. Such a sentiment from almost any other person we 
would have been apt to think apocryphal, and not a few of our literati 
have scouted it as preposterous; but from our examination of the pecu- 
liar structure of Scott's mind, we are fully convinced of its truth. It 
was about this happy period, while one day straying through his lawns 
and plantations with his factor and friend, Mr. Laidlaw, that, after stop- 
ping on an eminence, and surveying for some time in silence, but with 
an evidently full heart, the self created Eden which lay stretched around 
hhn, he muttered in a tone of mingled thankfulness and exultation, " Lo, 
I passed the river Tweed with my staff and my scrip, and now I am 
become a great nation!" Alas! to think that with the rearing of this 
goodly kingdom must be associated the sorrowful recollection of all the 
distresses which overclouded the latter years of his life, and which 
brought him, perhaps, to an untimeous grave ! Abbotsford and its grounds 
have been visited by thousands of all ranks, and from all corners of the 
earth, and have by them been regarded only with sensations of wonder, 
curiosity, and pleasure ; but we, whose duty it has been to keep our 
minds, as far as it is possible to do so unbiassed by the atmosphere of 
romance which must ever envelope the scene of the great magician's 
labours, must look upon them with less of pleasure than of sorrow and 
humiliation I 



368 LIFE OF SIR WALTEP. SCOTT. 

On his return from his Irish tour in the autumn of 1825, Scott was 
engaged by Mr. Constable to undertake a subject of a somewhat different 
nature than any he had before gi'appled with. That entei-prising pub- 
Hsher had just then projected his well known Miscellany, which, from 
the judiciousness of its plan, and the liberal spirit with which it was 
entered upon, soon attained a reputation and success as singular as it 
was merited, and laid the foundation of an entirely new system in the 
annals of publication.* The work for which he now enlisted the pen 
of Scott, was the Life of Bonaparte, — a topic, perhaps, too extensive to 
form the subject of an unelaborate and popular memoir, such as it was 
his object to procure. At least Scott so found it, having, after proceed- 
ing to the length, as we have heard, of three or four volumes, felt the 
necessity of extending and remodeling his whole plan, and canceling all 
his previous labour. It was upon this work he was engaged, when, in 
February 1826, amidst the distresses which then visited almost every 
branch of trade and industry, literary as well as commercial, in Great 
Britain, the long established publishing house of Constable and Company 
became bankrupt; and along with it the printing concern of Ballantyne 
and Company. In the introduction to the recent edition of the " Chro- 
nicles of the Canongate," Scott himself thus speaks of this, to himself as 
to others, overwhelming casualty. 

"The year 1825, so disastrous to many branches of industry and 
commerce, did not spare the market of literature ; and the sudden ruin 
that fell on so many booksellers, could scarcely have been expected to 
leave unscathed one, whose career had of necessity connected him deeply 
and extensively with the pecuniary transactions of that profession. In a 
word, almost without one note of premonition, I found myself involved 
in the sweeping catastrophe of the unhappy time, and called on to meet 
the demands of creditors upon commercial establishments with which 
my fortunes had long been bound up to the extent of no less a sum than 
one hundred and twenty thousand pounds." This sum, however, be it 
observed, includes the claims against him by the creditors of Ballantyne 
and Company. 

Even were we inclined — which we certainly are not — to enter into a 
minute exposition of the pecuniary affairs of these two companies, the 
complicated and involved nature of their mutual transactions would 
render any statement, short of a complete professional report of the 
whole circumstances, only confused and unsatisfactory, and at the same 
time liable to misconstruction. We shall therefore keep as clear as 

* The ' Miscellany' was entirely a private speculation of Mr. Constable's, dis- 
tinct from the affairs of the firm. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 369 

possible of all matters with which tlie subject of our memoir was not 
immediately connected. 

Upon making up a statement of the affairs of Constable and Com- 
pany,* it was found that Sir Walter Scott was liable as an individual, 
and as a partner of Ballantyne and Company, for 72,000/.; at least the 
trustee for the bankrupt estate ranked upon him to that amount. 

The total amount of the debts of Ballantyne and Company was about 
1 lOjOOOZ., ybr the whole of which Sir Walter Scott was liable, as a 
partner of the concern. 

At first view, therefore, Scott's pecuniary liabilities to the creditors of 
these two firms alone, and exclusive altogether of his own private debts, 
would appear to exceed 180,000/. sterling. But it must be observed, 
that about a half, perhaps of the 72,000/. due to the estate of Constable 
and Company was included in the debts of Ballantyne and Company, 
being bills granted to the former company by the latter, during their 
mutual transactions ; and having the names of Scott or Ballantyne, or 
both, upon them, as representing the firm of Ballantyne and Company. 
Deducting, therefore, that moiety — say 35,000/. — from the gross amount, 
Scott's actual liabilities would be somewhere about 147,000/. 

To reconcile this account with that of Sir Walter himself, who sets 
down his total responsibilities at 120,000/., we must suppose the assets, 
or available funds of Ballantyne and Company to meet their debts, to 
amount to the difference — or 27,000/. 

Scott says, that these disasters came upon him " almost without a 
note of premonition ;" but it seems incomprehensible to us, how any 
man of common circumspection, possessing, moreover, some knowledge 
of commercial matters, could be at all surprised at such a termination 
to the transactions in which he had been involved with Mr. Constable for 
many years. Of the 72,000/. brought against him as debtor, to the 
estate of the latter, the moiety for which he was individually responsi- 
ble, — that is to say, from 37,000/. to 40,000., (for it is impossible for 
us to be minutely accurate,) — consisted of personal accommodation bills 
to Mr. Constable, being solely for the benefit and convenience of that 
gentleman. That an individual in business should stand in need of 
such an enormous amount offioating credit, ought, it might be supposed, 
to have been of itself a fact sufficiently premonitory of the result likely 
to ensue. Neither was it, as if such accommodation had been rendered 
expedient by a sudden and temporary stagnation of trade, although to 
that circumstance, doubtless, must be attributed the immediate bursting 
of the sore. But the 'pus had been accumulating for years, and Scott 

* The debts of Constable and Company amounted, we believe, to upwards of 
253,500Z. sterling ! 

2y 



870 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

could not but have been perfectly aware of it. The greater part of the 
bills current at the time of the bankruptcy were no recent matters. All^ 
or most people in business, are aware of the convenient process by 
which these representatives of capital can be made, at the end of three, 
six, nine, or more months, to change their primary character, and re- 
appear, like the silk-worm, after throwing off its old skin, in a fresh 
dress and more formidable size. Many of Mr. Constable's bills had 
been periodically casting their slough in this manner for years. To 
retire one, another of a larger amount had to be substituted, although, 
of course, prudence frequently dictated the metamorphosis taking place 
at a different locality. Thus, a bill for lOOOZ., when the term of its 
existence in the Commercial Bank, where it first acquired vitality, 
expired, would be resuscitated as one of 1.500Z. in the British Linen 
Company, — and, again, as oneof 2000Z. in the Bank of Scotland — and 
so forth. This system is unfortunately but too common amongst our 
commercial classes. It is like rolling a snowball up a hill covered with 
its own element. At every turn it acquires greater size and weight, 
and consequently needs increased strength to propel it : there can be no 
stopping ; and when it becomes too ponderous to be moved farther, it 
almost invariably proves an avalanche, irresistibly bearing backwards 
on its originators, and burying them in its ruins. Nor was the practice, 
in the present case, confined to the round of the Banks in Edinburgh. 
Their more distant provincial bi'anches, as being removed from the prime 
centre of observation, were likewise favoured with opportunities of exercis- 
ing the same accommodating disposition. One instance we can speak of 
with certainty, and feel it almost necessary to quote, as explanatory of 
the aerial system by which Constable supported his commercial credit, 
and remunerated Scott for many years previous to his failure, although 
the transaction is one which we would otherwise have felt most desirous 
of concealing. A bill, for a sum not many hundreds short of 1000/., 
with Constable's name adhibited, was, so far back as the year 1819, 
presented at a branch bank in the south of Scotland, and was, of course, 
immediately cashed. When the period of its retirement arrived, the 
agent, from the (supposed) responsible character of the party concerned, 
and, no doubt, considering the premium for discount to himself, had not 
the slightest hesitation in accepting a similar document in payment. In 
short, this individual bill was renewed, term afler term, and year after 
vear, until the fatal February, 1826, when, by Mr. Constable's failure, 
the unfortunate agent was obliged to make good the amount of the bill 
to his employers, and content himself with its dividend as a creditor on 
the bankrupt case. 

Scott, we repeat, mvst have been aware of the progress and ultimate 
■ tendency of this hollow system ; and we have even stronger evidence of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. ' 371 

the ■wilfulness with which he shut his eyes to the inevitable consequences. 
Some months belbre the fatal bankruptcy took place, one of Mr. Con- 
stable's bills, for a very large amount, was presented at one of the Edin- 
burgh banks, having Scott's name attached to it. A friendly director, 
who, from the recent frequency of such transactions, was at no loss to 
see how matters stood with the publisher, sent for Sir Walter, and asked 
him, if he was aware of the great number of heavy bills which Mr. 
Constable had abroad. " Sir Walter," continued he, in an earnest 
tone, " I advise you to be cautious." Scott was considerably struck by 
this friendly warning, for which he expressed his thanks. He acknow- 
ledged he was aware of Mr. Constable being straitened for money, 
owing to the stagnant state of the commercial world : — " But," he con- 
tinued, after a pause of reflection, and in a tone of much feeling, " Ar- 
chie Constable was a good friend to me when friend? were somewhat 
scarcer than at present, and (here he spoke in a firm and decided tone) 
he shall not want a few thousands more yet, if he thinks they can be of 
service to him." 

The fact was, that Scott could not possibly help himself. He was 
constrained to do what he did equally by feelings of gratitude and self- 
interest. He could not, in point of honour, refuse the credit of his name 
to one who had so often pledged his own for his convenience, and who 
had been, in fact, a sort of banker to him on all pecuniary emergencies. 
For instance, we know, that when Sir Walter's eldest son obtained his 
commission in the army. Constable advanced the funds necessary to 
defray all the expenses of his out-fit, — if not, indeed, the purchase money 
of the commission itself. Friendly and timeous aids of this nature, 
have, in the eyes of a man of proper feeling, a far more sacred claim to 
a grateful return, than mere commercial accommodations. But besides 
this, it was only by lending his name in the manner mentioned, in order 
to obtain for Constable the command of cash, that he himself was 
enabled to obtain from the latter the large advance on his works whilst 
they were in progress, — nay, as will be presently seen, sometimes 
before they were even begun ! Other publishing houses would no doubt 
have been most ready to accept of Scott's works on as liberal terms as 
those given by Mr. Constable ; but it is questionable how far they would 
have been willing, like him, to purchase — to use a vulgar phrase — " a 
pig in a pock." The following documents, made public some time ago, 
will, we doubt not, be perused with great interest by all our readers. 
It shows, at once, the masked manner in which Scott's bargains with 
his publishers wei'e managed, and the prompt terms of payment required 
and unhesitatingly agreed to. 

" Dear sirs, — I am desired by the Author of Waverley to propose to 



372 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

you a new bargain for another romance on the same terms as the last. 
The money will be wanted previously to the 28th of this month. 

"Should you accept the proposal, I shall make you a formal offer in 
the usual mode; and as the author is desirous to have the matter closed 
as speedily as possible, I hope to have the pleasure of hearing from you 
in the course of a day or two. I am, dear sirs, yours truly, 

(Signed) " James Ballantyne." 

Messrs. A. Constable and Co. having intimated their intention of 
accepting the offer, they next day received the following note and offer. 
« 18th or 19th March, 18th . . £500 

25th and 26th 20th . . 750 

24th . . 850 

28th . . 400 



£2500 
"P. O. 7th March, 1823. 

" Dear sirs, — The prefixed are the dates at which I should be glad 
to receive the advance on the new, and I will thank you to be kind 
enough to let me know if the arrangement will suit you. Yours truly, 
(Signed) " James Ballantyne." 

The agreement for this work was completed by the following mis- 
sives. 

" P. O. Edinburgh, 7th March, 1823. 

" Messrs. Archibald Constable and Co. — Gentlemen, — I am empow- 
ered by the Author of Waverley, Peveril of the Peak, &c., as his agent, 
to offer you his next work of fiction following that contracted for with 
me on 14th October last; if a romance, in 3 vols.; if a novel, in 4. — I 
shall, however, as heretofore, recapitulate the agreements that are now 
open betwixt us and the said author. 

I. — " The work, which is not yet named, now far advanced at press, 
immediately following Peveril of the Peak, and contracted for on the 3d 
of September, 1821. (Quentin Durward.) 

II. — " The next work of fiction (written by the author) following that 
agreed for on 3d September, 1821, and contracted for 26th of Febru- 
ary, 1822. (St. Ronan's Well.) 

III. — " The next work of fiction (written by the author) following that 
agreed for on 26th February, 1822; and contracted for on 7th May, 
1822. (Redgauntlet.) 

IV. — " The next work of fiction (written by the author) following 
that agreed for on 7th May, 1822, and contracted for, as before men- 
tioned, on the 14th October last. (Tales of the Crusaders.) 

" The conditions of the work now to be contracted for, are as fol- 
low: — 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 373 

<i 1st — That the impression shall be ten thousand copies. 

« 2d — That the author is to receive three thousand seven hundred 
and fifty pounds, for his share of the profits of the said ten thousand 
copies. 

" sd — That I am to have one-third of the transaction, you managing 
the whole, as formerly. 

" /^th — That for your two-thirds, you are to grant bills at four, five, 
and six months, for twenty-five hundred pounds. 

" 5th — That James Ballantyne and Co. are to print the work ; and 
that on publication, you are to draw on them for one-third share of the 
paper and print of the work, at a date not exceeding twelve months. 

« Qth — That you are at liberty to print, if you shall see cause, two 
thousand copies, in addition to the ten thousand copies above stipulated 
for ; but, in putting the additional number to press, the author is to re- 
ceive seven hundred and fifty pounds, payable in the proportions by you 
and myself, as already narrated, and with a like division of the books. 
I am, gentlemen, your very faithful servant, 

(Signed) " James Ballantyne." 

"Edinburgh, 8th March, 1823. 
" Dear Sir, — Above you have a copy of your proposal of a new 
work, by the Author of Waverley, which we hereby accept of; and we 
remain, dear sir, yours truly, 

(Signed) " A. Constable & Co. 

" Addressed to Mr. James Ballantyne.^'' 

The following is the contract concluded by Mr. Ballantyne on be- 
half of the concealed author, with the house of Constable & Co : — 

« 20th October, 1823. 

" Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co. — Gentlemen, I am empowered 
by the Author of Waverley, Quentin Durward, &c., as his agent, to of- 
fer you his next work of fiction, following that contracted for with me 
on 7th March last; if a romance, in 3 vols.; if a novel, in 4. 

" I shall, however, as heretofore, recapitulate the agreements that are 
now open betwixt us and the said author. 

I. — " The work, now far advanced at press, and named St. Ronan's 
Well, and contracted for on 26th February, 1822. 

II. — " The next work of fiction written by the author, following St. 
Ronan's Well, and contracted for on 7th May, 1822. (Redgauntlet.) 

III. — The next work of fiction written by the author, following that 
contracted for 7th May, 1822, and contracted for on 14th October, 
1822. (Tales of the Crusaders.) 



374 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

IV. — " The next work of fiction written by the author, following that 
contracted for on 14th October, 1822, and agreed for as before stated on 
7th March last. 

" The conditions of the work now to be contracted for are as follow : 

" 1st — That the impression shall be ten thousand copies. 

" 2d — That the author is to receive three thousand seven hundred 
and fifty pounds, for his share of the pi'ofits of the said ten thousand 
copies. 

" 3d — That I am to have one-third of the transaction, you managing 
the whole as formerly. 

" 4</t — That for your two-thirds you are to grant bills at four, five 
and six months, for twenty-five hundred pounds. 

" 5th — That James Ballantyne & Co. are to print the work, and that, 
on publication, you are to draw on them for one-third share of paper 
and print of the work, at twelve months date. 

" 6th — That you are at liberty to print, if yoU shall see cause, two 
thousand copies in addition to the ten thousand copies above stipulated 
for ; but, in putting the additional number to press, the author is to re- 
ceive seven hundred and fifty pounds, payable in the proportions by you 
and myself, as already narrated, and with a like division of the books. 
I am, gentlemen, your faithful and obedient servant, 

(Signed) " James Ballantyne." 

" Edinburgh, 29th October, 1832. 
" Dear Sir, — On the other side we hand you a copy of your propo- 
sal, dated 28th instant, for a new work by the Author of Waverley; 
we hereby accept of said proposal, and are, dear sir, yours truly, 

(Signed) " A. Constable & Co." 

From the preceding, it will not only be evident that Constable was 
entirely ignorant both of the name and nature of the works thus con- 
tracted for, but that Scott himself was sometimes equally ignorant; 
that he had not even in his own mind determined on his subjects, for had 
he done so, he could certainly have said at once whether the work was 
to be a novel or a romance. The latter extraordinary fact is confirmed 
by the long periods which intervened between the contracting for and 
publishing of the various works. Thus it appears that " Quentin Dur- 
ward," which was published in the latter end of the year 1823, was 
contracted for in September, 1821; "St. Ronan's Well" and "Red- 
gauntlet," published in 1824, were contracted for in the spring of 1822 ; 
"The Crusaders," published in 1825, contracted for also in 1822, and 
the one which was the subject of the above contract, (which afterwards 
appeared in the shape of " Woodstock," to be afterwards more parti- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 375 

cularly noticed,) dated March, 1823, did not appear until 1826; and it 
seems clear had not been begun — perhaps not even thought of — at the 
time. Respecting the contract, dated October, 1823, there is positive 
certainty that Scott was impawning his fancy at blind hazard. The 
only work which can be made to answer to that agreement, is the first 
two volumes of the " Chronicles of the Canongate," published in 1827, 
the design of which series of fictions, as Scott himself tells us, was con- 
ceived after the unexpected disasters of 1826. 

This is the most extraordinary literary revelation, certainly, ever laid 
before the world; and truth compels us to remark, that the proceedings 
say little for the prudence of either party. It was not simply a specu- 
lation in hard cash upon the fickle article of popularity. It loas specu- 
lating upon life itself and setting at nought the chances of ill health, 
mental as well as corporeal, and all the other incidental casualties which 
are constantly occurring to mar or change all the plans and purposes of 
mankind. For how does the matter in reality stand? — Here was an 
unwritten work contracted for between Constable and Scott ; the latter 
receives payment for it from the other in bills — and for these bills re- 
ceives hard cash upon the credit of himself and publisher. Supposing, 
therefore, the author of the contemplated work to have died in the in- 
terim, and the transaction to have been uncompleted — upon whom would 
the loss fall? Why upon those who had given the cash for the credit, 
neither of the parties who had benefited by the transaction being in a 
condition to refund the advances to them. Nothing can possibly exo- 
nerate the memory of our author from the charge of extreme impru- 
dence, at least, in this matter; — upon the conduct of the publisher, as 
being a practical man of business, we fear posterity will put a harsher 
construction. 

Both parties, in fact, seem to have acted under a species of intoxica- 
tion, and it is difficult to say, which of them, in their individual charac- 
ter, proceeded the most recklessly, — Constable in commercial matters, 
or Scott in his insane passion for the acquisition of territorial property. 
Relatively, however, and viewing their connection, not as friends, but 
in the cold commercial light of author and publisher, the balance stands 
heavy against the latter. 

It is true, that with Scott himself originated that system of mutual 
pecuniary accommodation, from which he afterwards found it impossi- 
ble to extricate himself — and it is no less true, Constable had, on many 
occasions, actively and efficiently befriended him with advances of mo- 
ney; but looking dispassionately at all the circumstances, it will be seen 
that all the risk lay on one side — that of Scott. Whilst the latter was 
pledging his all upon the perilous chances of commercial adventure, by 
which he might be ruined, but from which he could derive not one pen- 



376 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

ny of advantage, Constable was, in reality, risking nothing at all in re- 
turn, — having, in case of the worst, still the property of Abbotsford to 
look to for repayment of his cash advances, while he was, at the same 
time, drawing large sums of positive and immediate gain by the sale of 
the novels. In the hey-day of their prosperity, Scott does not seem to 
have viewed the matter in this light, but we have reason to know that 
he latterly did so. He said little, however; and almost the only in- 
stance we know of his throwing out any thing like a reflection against 
the man who had plunged him into almost irremediable ruin, was, in his 
remarking to Captain Basil Hall, on the eve of his departure for the con- 
tinent in the autumn of 1831, "Ah! if I had been in our excellent 
friend Cadell's hands during all the course of my writing for the pub- 
lic, I should now undoubtedly have been worth a couple of hundred 
thousand pounds, instead of having to work myself to pieces to get out 
of debt."* 

Yet, let us do justice to all parties. From all our investigations into 
this painful subject, we are convinced that Constable did not designedly 
or deliberately lead his friend into ruin ; nor even, until almost the ter- 
mination of his career, suspect the desperate state of his own affairs. 
The rock upon which the fortunes of that gentleman was wrecked, was 
the exaggerated and extravagant ideas he entertained of the value of his 
stock in trade, which, in respect of magnitude at least, was certainly 
enormous. Huge impressions of every work bearing his imprimatur, 
were uniformly thrown off", without due regard to the probabilities of 
sale; and as these stores of paper and printers' ink accumulated around 
him, he seems to have fondly flattered himself with the idea of their 
being so much sure and available capital, — while the greater proportion, 
perhaps, ought to have been set down as a dead loss. It is said, he per- 
sisted to the very last in estimating every volume at the original cost 
price; and as no one at all doubted his veracity, many of his most in- 
timate friends were thus deceived respecting the real state of his affairs, 
and imagined his resources quite adequate to satisfy all claims against 
him. Of Constable's own sincerity of belief in the extent of his re- 
sources, we have one undeniable proof to record. When the late Mr. 
Hunter of Blackness, who had been for many years a silent partner of 
the firm of Constable and Company, retired from the concern, the usual 
process of taking stock was, of course, gone through, with the view of 
adjusting the separate interests of the partners. This being done upon 
Mr. Constable's principle above alluded to, no less a sum, we understand, 

* One strong fact illustrative of the sense of injustice which Scott conceived 
himself to have sustained from Constable, was, that upon the death of the latter, 
in 1827, he neither attended the funeral, nor returned the slightest acknowledg- 
ment to the cards of intimation and invitation sent to him. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 377 

than £17,000 sterling was adjudged to Mr. Hunter as his individual 
share, — which sum he accordingly received. Had the estimate been 
taken on the sober and unromantic commercial principle — that an ar- 
ticle is worth, not what it costs, but what it will bring — there is reason 
to believe, that the fears which embittered the latter period of the re- 
tiring partner's life, and which terminated in so melancholy a manner, 
would have been found not altogether without foundation.* 

Although, however, the explanation we have now offered may some- 
what palliate Mr. Constable's conduct in a moral sense, it tends little to 
his exculpation as a man of business ; while the knowledge of the per- 
sonal extravagance in which he had long indulged — living, it is said, at 
the rate of somewhere about £4000 a year, the consequences of wliich 
fell heavy on many a poor industrious tradesman and shopkeeper — ex- 
cited a sti'ong feeling of indignation throughout the country. Nor were 
the sentiments of the public towards Scott at first of a much more fa- 
vourable nature. One of the main causes of irritation against him, was 
the disclosure of the fact, that his estate of Abbotsford, upon which he 
had expended such an enormous amount of money, and which was the 
only tangible property which he could have to present against his debts, 
had been settled, by a deed of entail, upon his son. Major Scott, at the 
time of his marriage with Miss Jobson of Lochore, in Fifeshire ; and 
although it was immediately seen that the deed was not valid, owing to 
the entailer not being solvent at the date of its execution, still it was, not 
seemingly without reason, suspected that it had been done with an eye 
to the possibility of Constable's affairs becoming deranged, and so se- 
curing the liferent of the property to the entailer by a collusive and pre- 
tended disposition to his son. But the more thoroughly all the circum- 
stances were investigated, the more clearly did Scott's character stand 
exculpated from so dishonourable and fraudulent a charge; and indeed 
had we no other fact in disproof of such an accusation, his subsequent 
conduct — the self-devotion with which he took the burden of the debts 
on his own shoulders, and the almost superhuman exertions he made to 
liquidate them, would be a sufficient repudiation of the calumny. 

There is no doubt that Scott would easily have got his creditors to 
accept a composition of some comparatively trifling amount, and to 
grant him a full discharge, upon immediate payment of it; and we be- 

* It is said that this gentleman, who was of a very nervous and timorous tem- 
perament, suffered so much from agitation of mind owing to the embarrassments 
of the firm, that his reason was finally unsettled. He became indelibly impressed 
with the conviction, that he was to die a beggar; and notwithstanding his fortu- 
nate extrication from the cause of his alarms, and the possession to an excellent 
patrimonial estate, he actually destroyed himself under the impression we have 
mentioned. 

2 z 



^8 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

lieve overtures to this etlect were generously pressed upon him by some 
of those to whom he was most largely indebted. Nay, unless our in- 
formation be at fault, one of these very individuals — an old gentlemany 
now deceased — privately sent him a blank check on the bank, properly 
signed, desiring him to fill in the amount of composition which the body 
of his creditors would agree to accept, draw the money, and so clear 
himself at once of all his troubles ! The generosity of such an offer 
(if really made) has perhaps no parallel unless in the high and honour- 
able conduct of him to whom the temptation was held out. He would 
listen to no terms of compromise — accept of no assistance. It behoved 
Mm, he said, to abide the consequences of his rashness, and all that he 
solicited for was time. " Gentlemen," said he, to the claimants, using 
a favourite Spanish proverb, which he was fond of quoting, " ' Time 
and I against any two.' Let me take this good ally into company, and 
I believe I shall be able to pay yoa every farthing." His offer was ac- 
cepted : the forbearance manifested towards him by the creditors proved 
no less kind than judicious, and elicited the grateful acknowledgments 
of Scott himself while speaking of this distressing period of his life, in 
the introduction to the last edition of Chronicles of the Canongate. 
" With whatever feelings," says he, " I surrendered on the instant every 
shred of property which I had been accustomed to call my own.* It 
became vested in the hands of gentlemen, whose integrity, pi-udenceand 
intelligence, were combined with all possible liberality and kindness of 
disposition, and who readily afforded every assistance towards the exe- 
cution of plans, in the success of which the author contemplated the 
possibility of his ultimate extrication, and which were of such a nature, 
that had assistance of this sort been withheld, he could have but little 
prospect of carrying them into effect." To speak more plainly, a trust- 
deed was executed, in favour of certain gentlemen, whose duties were to 
receive the funds realised by our author's labours, and gradually " pay 
off the debts, with interest, by instalments^" He likewise insured his 
life, with the sanction of his trustees, for the sum of 22,000Z., by which 
a post obit interest to that amount was secured to his creditors. With 
a manly readiness and cheerfulness, also, he instantly proceeded to sa- 
crifice all his usual comforts and tastes to a sense of duty ; and in order 

* Including, of course, all his rare collections of curiosities, books, plate, &c. 
at Abbotsford. Sir Walter, we believe, at once volunteered passing from the 
entail and surrendering the estate for sale for the benefit of the creditors; but as 
it would not probably have brought one-third of the money expended on it, be- 
sides being burdened with a bond for 10,000/., contracted, as it turned out, for 
Constable's support, interest as well as delicacy dictated a compliance with Sir 
Walter's well-known wish to substitute labour for land in liquidating their 
claims. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 379 

to abridge as far as possible his personal expenditure, he sold off his 
house and furniture in Castle Street — a sacrifice which his creditors ne- 
ver dreamt of requiring at his hands — and retreated to a small flat in 
St. David Street, once occupied, as Mr. Chambers tells us, by the cele- 
brated David Hume. He likewise gave up entirely seeing company, and 
in fact denied himself all the indulgences to which he had been so long 
habituated. How he internally bore up against all this reverse of cir- 
cumstances it is painful to conjecture, but certainly his outward deport- 
ment displayed a resigned and cheerful magnanimity worthy of the 
greatest writer of the age. On the very day after the calamity had 
been made known to him, a friend accosted him as he was on his way 
to the parliament house, and offered the condolences proper on such an 
unfortunate occasion. " It is very hard, certainly," he replied, in his 
usual thoughtful voice, " thus to lose all the labours of a lifetime, and 
be made a poor man at last, when I ought to have been otherwise. But 
if God grant me health and strength for a few years longer, I have no 
doubt that I shall redeem it all." " I had several letters from him," 
says Allan Cunningham, "during these disastrous days; the language 
was cheerful, and there was no allusion to what had happened : all that 
he said about them was, 'I miss my daughter Mrs. Lockhart, who used 
to sing to me — I have some need of her now.' " 

It ought here to be mentioned, that Scott was the better enabled to 
carry his plans of rigorous retrenchment at this time into effect, by the 
death of lady Scott, which took place on the 15th May, 1826. This 
event, truth compels us to say, it was impossible to regard as a calami- 
ty, although Scott could not, at the moment, but feel the loss of the 
companion of thirty years and the mother of his children. If it affect- 
ed him not otherwise very deeply, it served at least, by altering still 
jnore the views and circumstances of his life, to remind him of the ra- 
pid march of time, and all the inevitable changes and deprivations which 
attend its onward progress, — reflections little calculated to cheer the hu- 
man bosom — least of all that of one who knew that the now limited pe- 
riod of his existence must be dedicated to unremitting exertions, from 
which he was to derive no benefit. 

Scott had now attained his fifty-fifth year, a term of life when even 
the most robust begin to own the nipping frost of time, and feel the vi- 
o-orous energy which inspires the frame of manhood decay. In our 
author's individual case, moreover, considering constitutional infirmity, 
and the mental afflictions with which he had been visited, perhaps we 
might date his comparative powers of exertion several years farther for- 
ward. Yet with a devoted alacrity of soul, and a steady determination 
of purpose, " above all Greek, above all Roman fame," he now set him- 
self down to the task of redeeming a debt of upwards of 120,000Z., 



380 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

and amending his broken fortunes. The first object to which he natu- 
I'ally turned, was the completion of the works upon which he had been 
engaged previous to the bankruptcy of Constable & Co. ; but a difficulty 
unfortunately arose to interrupt his labours at the very outset. By the 
agreements of the 7th March and 20th October, 1823, before given, our 
readers will have seen that Scott had contracted to write hvo works of 
fiction on certain terms. At the date of the bankruptcy, one of these 
had been proceeded in a little way, and advertised by Constable & Co., 
under the name of " Woodstock." The paper for printing the work had 
been sent by Constable & Co. to the printers, and the author himself 
had even received the amount of the price agreed on — in bills, as usual. 
In this state of matters, the trustee for the creditors of Constable & Co., 
claimed right to have the work thus contracted and paid for completed 
for the benefit of those whom he represented, stating his readiness to 
fulfil Constable & Co.'s part of the contract by publishing the work. 
The trustee for the creditors of Sir Walter Scott on the other hand 
maintained, that the contract had been voided by the bankruptcy of the 
purchasers and publishers of the work, and their consequent inabihty 
to perform their part of the contract ; that the payment of the price was 
not the only obligation incumbent on them ; that they were bound to 
publish the works, which they could not do ; and that, when the author 
contracted with them, he had a reference to advantages which he would 
derive from their being the publishers, but which could not be obtained 
from the trustee for their creditors ; that he had a material interest in 
the books being properly published, both with reference to his fame as 
an author, and his reversionary interest of the works. He admitted 
that in the cases where the price had been paid, he was bound to repay 
the money advanced, or to account for it; but he denied that there was 
any obligation on him to deliver the works in question to be published 
by the trustee for the creditors of Messrs. Constable & Co. Scott him- 
self adopted the same view of the matter as his trustee, and resolutely 
said, " The work is in my head, and sooner than they shall have it, 
there it shall remain." It certainly would have been a curious process 
to compel him, against his will, to bring himself to bed of a work of fic- 
tion. The matter was referred to arbitration, and Scott's creditors in 
the meanwhile advised that the novel, as well as the " Life of Bona- 
parte," should be completed without delay, and it was agreed betwixt 
them and the creditors of Constable & Co., that the proceeds should be 
lodged in neutral hands until the point in dispute should be decided. It 
may perhaps be interesting to those curious in literary transactions to 
see the estimate set down by the creditors of Ballantyne & Co., as the 
probable product of these works. What follows is taken from the 
" Estimates of funds that may accrue to Ballantyne & Co., within the 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 881 

year;" and the calculation gives us some idea of the average value of 
the Waverley novels. 

" Produce of new works by Sir Walter Scott, at present in the course 
of publication" 

1. " Woodstock," 3 vols., 9500; shop 

price 31s. 6d. boards .... £U,962 10 

Deduct one-third to reduce to trade- 
price, and cover expenses of 
sale £4987 10 

Cost of paper and printing (same as 

Redgauntlet) - - . - 2225 

Sum to cover contingencies - - 1000 

8212 10 



Remains 6750 

Add value of copyright after first impression - - 1 300 



Produce of Woodstock £8050 



2, Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, 5 

vols.* 8vo. 8000 copies; shop 

price 52s. 6d. boards £21,000 

Deduct one-third as above - - £7000 

Ditto for paper, &c. - - - 3706 

Ditto for contingencies - - - 1200 

11,906 



9094 
Add value of copyright after first edition - - - 2166 13 4 



Produce of Bonaparte's Life .... £11,260 13 4 

The preceding calculation was pretty nearly correct in both in- 
stances, although the plan of the larger work was afterwards so much 
altered as entirely to nullify the above estimate. " Woodstock" was 
quickly completed, and we find that at a meeting held on the 26th May, 
of the creditors of Ballantyne & Co., Mr. Gibson, (Scott's agent,) " re- 
ported particulars of the sale of Woodstock, 7900 copies of which had 
been sold to Hurst & Robertson at £6500 ; but they being unable to 
complete the bargain, they had been transferred to Longman & Co. on 

* This was the original size agreed on. 



382 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

the same terms. The money had been paid, and was deposited with 
Sir William Forbes & Co., to wait the issue of the decision as to the 
respective claims of Constable & Co. and Sir Walter Scott's trustees. 
The remainder of the impression had been sold to Constable & Co.'s 
trustees at 18s. 6d. each copy, at a credit of ten months from delivery, 
with five per cent, discount for any earlier payment, of which the trus- 
tees approved. In consequence of advice from Sir Walter Scott and 
Longman & Co., it had been thought advisable to restrict the first edi- 
tion of the life of Napoleon to 6000, instead of 8000 copies, as origi- 
nally intended." We may here state shortly, that the question of right 
to these works was ultimately decided in favour of Scott's trustees. 

In this year, 1826, Scott performed an invaluable service to his coun- 
try by the successful resistance of his pen to a proposed measure of go- 
vernment. This was Mr. Canning's project for abolishing the small- 
note currency of Scotland, and assimilating the monetary system to that 
of England. Violent opposition was of course offered to this proposal 
by the Scotish public, but as their opinions were viewed by the legisla- 
ture as emanating only from selfishness, there seemed little probability 
of their remonstrances being at all attended to. In this dilemma, Scott 
(being no doubt urged by feelings of gratitude towards those connected 
with the banks, as well as more patriotic motives) stepped forward, and 
in three successive letters inserted in the Weekly Journal newspaper, 
(published by his friend Mr. Ballantyne,) he so thoroughly exposed the 
absurdity of the parliamentary scheme, that notwithstanding the power- 
ful support of Mr. Croker, and other financial writers, the legislature at 
once dropped all further thoughts of proceeding with it. The letters 
had the sonorous and euphonic signature of " Malachi Malagrowther" 
attached to them, but contained so many palpable traits of Scott's pecu- 
liar humour, pathos, and sarcasm, that there was not a moment's doubt 
concerning their paternity. The author's own feelings, as we learn 
from a gentleman then connected with Mr. Ballantyne's establishment, 
were excited in an unusual degree on this occasion. Two days after 
the first letter had appeared, he was in the printing-house with his friend 
Mr. Ballantyne, when the latter remarked, that he had been more soli- 
citous and careful about the proof of this little composition, than he had 
ever observed him to be respecting any of his productions. " Yes," 
said he, in a tone that electrified even this familiar friend, who had heard 
him speak before under all varieties of circumstances, " my former 
works were for myself, but this — this is for my country.'^'' 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PROM THE DISCLOSURE OP THE WAVERLEY SECRET IN FEBRUARY, I82'7j 
TO THE DEATH OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, IN SEPTEMBER, 1832. 

" Woodstock" was the last of Scott's works in which he appeared 
under the mysterious guise of the " Author of Waverley ;" for although 
the necessary investigation into the books of Ballantyne & Co. had 
clearly established the paternity of these productions, those concerned 
did not perhaps reckon it altogether prudent to tear the veil at once from 
the face of the Great Unknown, whose magic pen had hitherto been so 
prolific a source of wealth. The public were therefore left in a sort of 
dubious twilight on the subject; a wavering betwixt doubt and certainty? 
more tantalising even than their previous state of complete ignorance. 

It is certainly not one of the least remarkable circumstances con- 
nected with these novels, that the mystery of their authorship should 
have been so long and faithfully preserved, considering the number of 
individuals to whom the truth was undoubtedly known. Scott hiniself 
speaks of some score of persons to whom the secret was imparted ; but 
many more than either he or they dreamt of, were privy to it, several 
of whom, to our certain knowledge, although they acquired their infor- 
mation quite accidentally, yet did so in spite of the most anxious pre^ 
cautions to keep them in ignorance, and were therefore no way bound 
by the laws of friendly and honourable confidence from communicating 
the fact to the public. We could mention many instances of this spon- 
taneous and unsolicited secrecy, but shall only state one, as being equal- 
ly illustrative of the trivial casualties which will sometimes baffle the 
" best laid schemes of mice and men," and of the honour of the indi- 
vidual immediately concerned. A gentleman, who happened to be in the 
establishment of Ballantyne and Company, one day, at the time when the 
public curiosity — including his own — respecting the mysterious author 
was at its height, picked up, while walking through the compositors'" 
room, a small slip of paper, which he was just about to toss away again, 
when his eye caught the autograph of Scott, with which he was well ac- 
quainted. It proved to be a card from him to Ballantyne, the back, or 
address, of which was torn off. It began, " Dear James," and consisted 
only of two sentences ; but these were sufficiently explanatory of the 
great Waverley secret. The first alluded to the return of the last proof 



384 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

sheets of the novel then ])assing through the press ; and the second con- 
veyed the brief intimation, — " I have already laid another vessel on the 
stocks." This individual preserved his secret for upwards of six years, 
— in short, until Scott himself divulged it, — when the writer of these 
pages heard the fact, then for the first time stated, from his own lips. 

Innumerable anecdotes are told of the attempts made to surprise Scott 
into an acknowledgment of his identity with the " Author of Waverley ;" 
but all accounts agree as to the inimitable readiness and composure 
with which he baffled them. To those who had the boldness directly 
to impeach him with the fact, he hesitated not at once to reply by a 
broad denial. Fie considered, he said, that as they had no right to ask 
such a question, they had just as little right to expect a candid answer. 
This may be reckoned somewhat at variance with a due regard to the 
strict laws of truth ; but how was it possible for one in Scott's situation 
to protect himself otherwise? In questions of authorship, an equivoca- 
tion, or half-denial, subjects the accused to the risk of misconstruction, 
incalculably more injurious and degrading in the public eye, and (if he 
be a man of correct feeling) in the opinion of himself, than the suspi- 
cion of a downright falsehood. Can there be any meanness more despi- 
cable than that of a man allowing himself to be supposed entitled to that 
credit which he is conscious is the right of another? Yet to such an 
imputation would Scott have subjected himself had he descended to 
quibble and equivocate. The severest trial of this nature to which he 
was ever exposed, was undoubtedly on the following occasion : — About 
the year 1817, when the fame of the novels was at the highest, and 
public curiosity still anxious about them, Scott was on a visit to London, 
and had the honour of dining with the Prince Regent at Carlton House. 
Lord Lowther, Mr. Croker, and several others, were of the party. 
After dinner, the Prince filled a glass, and said, " I have neither a bless- 
ed bear, nor yet a tappit hen, (see Waverley,) but I have, at least, as 
good claret as ever the Baron of Bradwardine had, and in that claret I 
drink to the health of the greatest genius of my country, the Author of 
Waverley." The toast was, of course, duly honoured, as toasts of 
princes generally are, and every one waited with some curiosity to know 
what Mr. Scott would do. He stood up and said, that he did not pre- 
tend to misunderstand what his Royal Highness meant, and accepted 
the intended compliment with gratitude; but, "Sire, I am not the Au- 
thor of Waverley." The Prince immediately rejoined, " I am exces- 
sively happy to hear it, because I now find that I reckon two of the 
greatest men of Europe as my subjects, instead of one, — I have now 
both the author of the 'Lady of the Lake,' and the Author of 'Waver- 
ley.' " The Prince, from that time forward, always maintained that 
the novels could not have been written by Scott, because he held it im- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 385 

possible that any body should take the liberty of mystifying him. Sir 
Walter, on the other hand, said, that the Prince had no right to pry 
into the secret, which he would have confided to him without any scru- 
ple, if they had been alone, but which he had no notion of publishing 
before company — especially when that company comprised people in 
any way connected with literary pursuits. Besides, he used to add, 
' they were a' half fou.' 

But it was seldom that Scott was arraigned in this trying manner; 
and his presence of mind, and readiness of remark, enabled him to de- 
feat all the numerous indirect, though often well-laid snares, to entrap 
him into a disclosure of his mystery ,• and, in fact, he said himself, he 
never recollected being in pain or confusion on the subject. It was 
said, that he was once thrown ofT his guard in a conversation with Lord 
Byron* in the shop of Mr. Murray the publisher, and made a remark 
tantamount to an admission of his being the author of the novels, which 
he himself immediately observed, and " covered his confusion by a pre- 
cipitate retreat;" but our author solemnly declares in his introduction 
to the recent edition of " Waverley," that he had no recollection of such 
a scene taking place, which, as he justly observes, could scarcely have 
been the case had it ever occurred. The point from which Scott ran 
the greatest risk of discovery, was his introducing into his narratives 
conversational remarks, and scenes which had occurred in his own pre- 
sence, more particularly in the company of his familiar friends and 
acquaintances. Thus we have seen, that Hogg found him out by the 
dissertation about long sheep and short sheep, in the introduction to the 
" Black Dwarf." From that time forth, the Shepherd, as he added the 
successive novels to his library at Altrive Lake, had them bound up 
with the unequivocal title, " Scott's Novels," stamped on their back. 
Scott happened to visit the Bard of Yarrow after the latter had continued 
this practice for several years, and observing this laconic index to the 
contents of the volumes, remarked with great gravity, " What a stupid 
fellow of a bookbinder yours must be, Jamie, to spell Scofs with two 
i's." "Ah! Wattie, Wattie!" returned Hogg, turning on his friend a 
look of chuckling glee, " I'm ower auld a cat to draw that strae before !" 
At one time the Shepherd's bile was so much irritated by the pertinacity 
with which Scott preserved his incognito, that he set to and drew up a 
body of evidence on the subject, sufficient, as he thought to render fur- 
ther disavowal of the truth, at least to him, altogether ridiculous. This 
modern " Cloud of Witnesses" the compiler handed to Mr. Laidlaw to 
be shown to Scott, who merely remarked, without the slightest discom- 
posure, — "Very ingenious — very ingenious, indeed." Hogg had too 



* Vide " Medwyn's Conversations." 
3 A 



386 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

much proper feeling to give his catalogue of proofs to the world; but it 
is said that several of them, pointing out some of Scott's grammatical 
peculiarities, were so startingly just, that they had the effect of making 
him avoid the same marks of identity in a great measure afterwards. 
One old lady, of no mean pretensions to literary talent, caused Scott 
incessant annoyance, for a considerable time, by the ostentatious manner 
in which she went gadding about amongst the fashionable coteries of 
Auld Reekie upon the publication of every new work, telling every one 
of her absolute assurance of Scott being the author, and pointing out 
particular passages as being supplied to him by herself in the course of 
conversation. There was really some slight truth in the latter assertion, 
and Scott therefore bore with her impertinent chattering for a long time, 
with great patience, — for of course, every thing of this sort was most 
industriously collected and repeated to him by those " d d good-na- 
tured friends," of whom Sir Fretful Plagiary complains, — until one day, 
upon being told of a fresh instance of her provoking gossip, he exclaimed 
with more irritation than he was ever known to betray on a similar 
occasion, — " The auld hag! As if she had never bothered any body but 
me with her cursed lang-winded stories." This remark being duly re- 
ported to the party concerned, and losing, as may be imagined, nothing 
of its original harshness by the repetition, had the effect of relieving 
him from one source of annoyance at least. 

We could fill pages with anecdotes on this head, but most of them 
have been so long familiar to the world, that it is unnecessary to reca- 
pitulate them. One of the most singular facts connected with the subject, 
was the delusion under which many even of those who participated in 
" the secret," laboured with respect to the actual composing, or putting 
together, of the tales. Being aware, that he had assistance from various 
quarters in the collecting of his materials, they likewise imagined he 
must have received aid in filling up his narratives. It seemed as impos- 
sible to them as to the rest of the world, that he could otherwise have 
put such a mass of writing through his hands. Amongst others, the 
author's brother, Thomas,* long enjoyed a large share of this spurious 
credit, nor does it appear that he ever endeavoured to correct the error. 
But a still more absurd report was at one time very generally propagated, 
assigning to Lady Scott a large share of her husband's literary toil. It was 

* By an omission in an early part of our Memoir, which we have had no suit- 
able opportunity of correcting until now, it was neglected to be stated that it 
was the misfortunes of this relative, while practising as a law-agent in Edin- 
burgh, which hastened the publication of Marmion: — a circumstance only ob- 
scurely hinted at by Scott, to account for some of the imperfections of that work, 
but which, had he explained it in full, would have revealed a specimen of frater- 
nal affection rarely if ever equaled. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 387 

confidently asserted, that she contributed most of the episodical rhymes 
in the novels, — nay, that she had written one entire canto of the " Lady 
of the Lake!" This ridiculous rumour was current about the year 1817, 
and found very appropriate countenance and support from the marvel- 
loving journalists on the other side of the Atlantic. The truth is, that 
no literary man was perhaps ever mated with one less capable or less 
inclined to further his intellectual labours. No two minds can be im- 
agined of more dissimilar elements than those of the great novelist and 
his wife, — and of this, the following short anecdote, although trifling in 
itself, is yet forcibly illustrative. Walking together, one fine spring 
morning, through the parks at Abbotsford, where bevies of lambs were 
frisking about in the sunshine. Sir Walter's " lungs began to crow 
like chanticleer," with the beauties of the pastoral scene around him ; 
and upon one particularly fine lamb coming confidingly close up to them, 
he exclaimed in the fulness of his benevolent emotions, " What a beauti- 
ful and innocent-looking creature, Charlotte !" " It is, indeed," responded 
the lady, in a reciprocally earnest tone of voice, — '-'■ivouldnH it make a 
fine pier " Oh God!" ejaculated her husband, as if the odour of the 
shambles had been suddenly placed under his nostrils. The lady, we 
have reason to believe, was aware of the nature of his literary occupa- 
tions, but the only instance we have ever heard of her testifying the 
slightest interest in them, was her one day asking him to " set to and 
write another of his old-fashioned stories, as she was much in need of a 
new drawing-room carpet." Indeed, there is some reason to suspect 
that her ladyship did not even read the whole of her husband's ro- 
mances. At least we have it from a sure source, that in August, 1822, 
many months after the publication of the " Fortunes of Nigel," and 
long after the ' whole world' (in fashionable phraseology) had eagerly 
devoured it, her ladyship was slowly wading through the second volume 
as a duty she felt necessary to perform in order to sustain her part in 
conversation. Upon the same gentleman, who mentioned this circum- 
stance (and who had the most undoubted means of knowing), being ask- 
ed whether Sir Walter concerned himself about his lady's studies or 
employments, he replied decidedly, " Never a moment !" 

As will sometimes happen, however, the very indifference which 
Lady Scott testified respecting her husband's labours contributed to con- 
firm many in the belief of her secretly assisting him ; and, what will 
scarcely be credited, even her own family were of the number. Mr. 
Laidlaw told a friend of ours, that Miss Scott, (now Mrs. Lockhart,) who, 
whatever were her suspicions, was as really ignorant of the Waverley 
secret as the world was in general, once mentioned to him the circum- 
stance of her mother's copy of the novels remaining so long uncut in 
her chamber, as confirming her belief, not only that her father was the 



388 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

author of them, but that her mother must be privy to the mystery, if 
not actually assisting in their compilation : arguing, that if she had not 
known every thing about them beforehand, she must have shared in 
the curiosity to peruse them, evinced by every body else, upon their 
publication. 

But the time vv^as now arrived when it became impossible longer to 
wear the veil of mystery in which he had so long successfully shrouded 
himself. The investigations into the affairs of Constable and Ballantyne 
disclosed the fact beyond a doubt, and would have rendered further 
disavowal on the author's part as ridiculous as vain. Still, for the rea- 
sons before alluded to, the parties chiefly interested did not think it 
prudent to blaze forth the secret to the million, and the fact remained 
hovering betwixt doubt and certainty for nearly a twelvemonth after- 
wards. As this is perhaps the last opportunity we will have of intro- 
ducing a quotation from his pen, we will allow him to state the manner 
and occasion of his revealing himself in his own simple language.* 

" It was," says he, " my original intention never to have avowed 
these works during my life-time, and the original manuscripts were 
carefully preserved (though by the care of others rather than mine) 
with the purpose of supplying the necessary evidence of the truth when 
the period of announcing it should arrive.f But the affairs of my pub- 
lishers having unfortunately passed into a management different from 
their own, I had no right any longer to rely upon secrecy in that quar- 
ter; and thus my mask, like Aunt Dinah's in 'Tristram. Shandy,' 
having begun to wax a little threadbare about the chin, it became time 
to lay it aside with a good grace, unless I desired it should fall in pieces 
from my face, which was now become likely. Yet I had not the 
slightest intention of selecting the time and place in which the disclosure 
was finally made ; nor was there the slightest concert between my learned 
and respected friend Lord Meadowbank and myself upon that occasion. 
It was, as the reader is probably aware, upon the 23d of February last, 
at a public meeting called for establishing a professional Theatrical 
Fund in Edinburgh, that the communication took place. Just before 
we sat down to table. Lord Meadowbanklj: asked me privately whether 
I was still anxious to preserve my incognito on the subject of what were 
called the Waverley Novels? I did not immediately see the purpose of 
his lordship's question, although I might certainly have been led to infer 
it, and replied that the secret had now of necessity become known to so 

* Introduction to Chronicles of the Canongate, Oct. 1827. 

t " These manuscripts are at present (August, 1831) advertised for public sale, 
which is an addition, though a small one, to other annoyances." 

t One of the Supreme Judges of Scotland, termed Lords of Council and Ses- 
sion. He was also one of the Criminal Judges, termed Lords of Justiciary. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 389 

many people, that I was indifferent on the subject. Lord Meadowbank 
was thus induced, while doing me the great honour of proposing my 
health to the meeting, to say something on the subject of these novels, 
so strongly connecting them with me as the author, that by remaining 
silent, I must have stood convicted, either of the actual paternity, or of 
the still greater crime of being supposed willing to receive indirectly 
praise to which I had no just title. I thus found myself suddenly and 
unexpectedly placed in the confessional, and had the task of avowing 
myself to the numerous and respectable company assembled, as the 
sole and unaided author of these novels of Waverley, the paternity of 
which was likely at one time to have formed a controversy of some 
celebrity, for the ingenuity with which some instructors of the public 
gave their assurance on the subject, was extremely persevering." 

The eulogy with which Lord Meadowbank prefaced his toast was a 
brief but splendid one, and our inability, from want of room to insert it 
here, would cause us much regret, were it not for its being given, with 
a full report of all the convivial proceedings of the meeting, amongst 
the introductory matter to the last edition of the " Chronicles of the 
Canongate." Scott's reply, however, on this interesting and memorable 
occasion, imperatively demands a place. He said " he did not think 
that, in coming here to-day, he would have the task of acknowledging 
before three hundred gentlemen, a secret which, considei'ing that it was 
communicated to more than twenty people, had been remarkably well 
kept. He was now before the bar of his country, and might be under- 
stood to be on trial before Lord Meadowbank as an offender; yet 
he was sure that every impartial jury would bring in a verdict of Not 
Proven. He did not now think it necessary to enter into the reason of 
his long silence. Perhaps caprice might have a considerable share in 
it. He had now to say, however, that the merits of these works, if 
they had any, and their faults, were entirely imputable to himself. He 
was afraid to think on what he had done. 'Look on't again — I dare 
not.' He had thus far embosomed himself, and he knew that it would 
be reported to the public. He meant, then, seriously to state, that when 
he said he was the author, he was the sole and undivided author. With 
the exception of quotations, there was not a single word that was not 
derived from himself, or suggested in the course of his reading.f The 

* In his more leisurely explanation in his introduction to the " Chronicles of 
the Canongate," Scott says, " While I take on myself all the merits and defects 
attending these compositions, I am bound to acknowledge with gratitude hints 
of subjects and legends, which I have received from various quarters, and have 
occasionally used as a foundation of my fictitious compositions, or woven up 
with them in the shape of episodes." He then mentions several friends from 
whom he received obligations of this nature, — and particularly Mr. Train, super- 



390 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

wand was now broken, and the book buried. You will allow^ me fur- 
ther to say, with Prospero, it is your breath that has filled my sails." 
He concluded by proposing the health of Mr. Mackay, of the Theatre 
Royal, Edinburgh, as " his friend Bailie Nicol Jarvie," being the 
character in which that excellent actor and individual first acquired 
celebrity. 

The sensation excited in the meeting, (of which Scott himself was chair- 
man,) by the above announcement, is described to us as venting itself, 
in sounds resembling rather yells of delight, than mere shouts of ap- 
plause. And no marvel, — con!i*idering the occasion was that of a Scots- 
man telling his countrymen, face to face, that they had amongst them 
the greatest writer of the age — even he himself, who (to use the words 
of Lord Meadowbank) had conferred a new reputation on their national 
character, and bestowed on Scotland an imperishable name, were it only 
by her having given birth to himself. 

All broad Scotland — we may say, all Britain, sympathised in the ex- 
ultation of the audience, at a disclosure which, we fear, somewhat blunt- 
ed the general regret for the proximate cause of its being made. It was 
followed up by a more elaborate explanation in his preface to the " Chro- 
nicles of the Canongate," (the first series of which appeared in the au- 
tumn of the same year,) which we have had such frequent occasion to 
quote from and refer to during the course of our memoir. 

The "Life of Napoleon" appeared in August, 1827, being extended 
to nine, instead of its originally intended limits of five volumes. In the 
latter end of 1826, he had visited the Continent, with his daughter, Miss 
Anne Scott, for the purpose of making himself acquainted with many 
local and historical details connected with his work, and gleaning infor- 
mation from those personally engaged in the transactions which it re- 
corded. At Paris, he was received by the family of Charles X. with 
every mark of honour and respect, and every facility was placed at his 
disposal by that unfortunate monarch for assisting him in the object of 
his visit. We wish we could say as much for those courtiers and gene- 
ral officers to whom Scott was necessarily obliged to have recourse for 
the information required. From the tenor of the work, it is beyond a 
doubt that many of the facts upon which various parts of the narrative 
were founded, emanated from prejudiced sources. Scott was thus mis- 
led in many important particulars ; and it was doubtless his conscious- 
ness of, and regret for, this unwitting fault, that induced him in his latter 
will and testament to bequeath to his son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart, the duty 
of " correcting and cutting down the Life of Bonaparte to a less size, 

visor of excise, now at Castle-Douglas, to whom he was-indebted for many 
interesting traditions and sketches worked into the novels. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 391 

which may be done with a prospect of considerable advantage, or to 
suggest some competent person to do so." Until this is done, therefore, 
the work can hardly be pronounced a finished or standard one ; but 
with all its faults it is a splendid production, and worthy of its illustri- 
ous author. No half dozen of his works cost him, from first to last, 
nearly so much trouble and anxiety as this biography, and he became 
terribly tired of it before the conclusion. Some of the MS. which he 
had sent one day to the printing office, was somehow or other lost, and 
gave him infinite vexation in the re-writing, being quite unable to recol- 
lect what he had previously said. After this accident, he always trans- 
mitted a note to Ballantyne of the copy sent ; and one of these, contain- 
ing an objurgation sufficiently evincing the impatience with which he 
was labouring at his task, we are enabled to give : — " Dear James, — I 
send copy Nap. pp. ; I have clapped him in Elba — damn him." 
With all its imperfections, and the positive prejudices with which it was 
received by the public, the work is understood to have produced about 
12,000Z., a sum which soon after enabled him, with the addition of 
other earnings and accessory sources, to pay to his creditors a dividend 
amounting to one-third of their original claims — or six shillings and 
eight pence in the pound. It must be recollected, however, that the 
interest on the enormous principal had been all the while accumulating. 

In October, 1827, the first series of the "Chronicles of the Canon- 
gate" were published, in two volumes; consisting (besides a biographi- 
cal sketch of the imaginary chronicler, Chrystal Croftangry, Esq.) of 
three tales, entitled " The Highland Widow," " The Two Drovers," 
and " The Surgeon's Daughter." In the last edition of the novels, the 
latter tale has been placed as the concluding volume of all, and in its 
former locality have been substituted three detached pieces, respectively 
called "My Aunt Margaret's Mirror," "The Tapestried Chamber," 
and "The Laird's Jock," which appeared in the Keepsake in 1828. 
With the exception of " The Surgeon's Daughter," these pieces are 
mere sketches, but all of them distinguished by fewer or more traits of our 
author's incomparable power of narrative. The larger tale — the mate- 
rials of which were furnished by Mr. Train — is one of the most inte- 
resting of all the author's productions, and is pecuUarly remarkable for 
the felicitous facility with which he transfers his characters from the 
rural quiet and homely scenes of an obscure Scotish village to the pomp 
and pageantry of an eastern court, — yet preserves them the same amid 
every change of fortune and situation. In the same year in which these 
tales appeared, Scott also contributed a preface to the " Memoirs of 
La Rochejacqueline" for Constable's Miscellany. 

In 1828, a second series of the " Chronicles of the Canongate," in 
three volumes, was published. These contained " The Fair Maid of 



392 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Perth" — a work for superior, in our estimation, to many of its prede- 
cessors, and which showed that our author's resources were as unhmited 
as ever. In November, the same year, he also published the first part 
of a juvenile History of Scotland, under the title of "Tales of a Grand- 
father," being addressed to his grandchild John Hugh Lockhart, whom 
he typified under the appellation of Hugh Littlcjohn, Esq. This de- 
lightful work was completed by second and third parts — making alto- 
gether nine volumes — published respectively in 1829 and 1830, and 
forms one of the most useful and instructive juvenile publications in our 
language. In 1831 he added to these instructive tales another series on 
France, published also in three volumes, uniform with the former. Early 
in the year 1831 appeared "Anne of Geierstein," in three volumes; 
and, as if to show the combination of vigour and versatility which his 
intellect still retained, he published successively in the same year (in 
one volume each) two religious discourses, entitled " Sermons by a Lay- 
man," and an Essay on Gardening and Arboriculture I In the year 
following, he contributed an excellent " History of Scotland," in two 
volumes, to " Lardncr's Cabinet Cyclopaedia," — and also, " Letters on 
Demonology and Witchcraft," in one volume, to Mr. Murray's " Family 
Library." Our readers may conceive how powerful must have been 
that principle of integrity and love of independence, which could stimu- 
late a man on the verge of threescore to such astonishing exertions. 
Here we have, in the course of three years, that is to say, from the be- 
ginning of 1827 to the latter end of 1830, no less than nine-and-twenty 
original volumes — making nearly ten a-year — from his unassisted pen! 
It is almost frightful to contemplate the amount of mental labour he 
must have undergone in the process. But we have not yet stated the 
whole. Amongst the other projects started for the purpose of raising 
money, was one for republishing the whole of the " Waverley Novels" 
in a uniform and condensed size, illustrated by notes, prefaces and plates, 
and the whole revised and amended by the author. With this view, 
when the copyright of them was brought to the hammer, to the surprise 
of not a iew, it was repurchased by one of the late partners of the firm 
of Constable and Co., at 8,400Z. It soon appeared that this purchase 
was made by the trustees on account of Scott's creditors, and that the 
new edition was to be published for their behoof by the purchaser, Mr. 
Cadell. It accordingly began to appear in June, 1829, and so well was 
it adapted to the taste and convenience of the public, equally as to ap- 
pearance, size, and price, that the sale soon reached an average of 
23,000 copies. To give the reader an idea of the magnitude of this 
concern — commercially speaking — it may be stated, says Mr. Cham- 
bers, "that in the mere production of the work, not to speak of its sale^ 
about 1000 persons, or nearly a hundredth part of the population of 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 393 

Edinburgh were supported !" The volumes appeared in rapid succes- 
sion, and so indefatigably did Scott labour at the editing of them, that, 
amid all the exertion necessary to produce his other original composi- 
tions, no less than nineteen were published by December, 1830 — many 
of them containing notes and prefaces so copious, as, taken altogether, 
would form a bulky volume in themselves ! 

The profits of these volumes must have been very large, and the 
share of them which belonged to Scott's creditors, with the produce of 
his other works, enabled our author to pay a further dividend of three 
shillings in the pound, which, but for the grievous accumulation of in- 
terest, would have reduced his debts nearly one-half. 54,000Z. had now 
been paid, all of which, xoith the exception of 6000Z. or 7000Z. had 
been realised by Scotfs individual exertions. Besides all this, he had 
paid up the premiums upon the policies of insurance on his life for 
22,000Z. So strikingly honourable did Scott's conduct appear to his 
creditors, that, in the latter end of 1830, a general meeting was called, 
when it was unanimously agreed to present him with the library, manu- 
scripts, furniture and plate of Abbotsford, all of which he had volunta- 
rily surrendered to them at the time of his insolvency. 

It was now evident that, but for some fatal intervention, Scott would 
speedily retrieve all the disasters which had befallen him ; but alas ! the 
labour necessary for such a consummation, came at a period of life 
when he was least able for the task. In November, 1830, he resigned 
his office as principal clerk of session, retaining, of course, the retiring 
or superannuation pension.* His reason for taking this step was not 
the ostensible one of procuring ease and relief to himself from the duties 
of the office. It was for the purpose of working harder than ever. 
He found that the time devoted to his literary labours was more profit- 
ably employed than that consumed in his attendance in the parliament 
house; and he reckoned it a duty to his creditors to adopt the course 
which would be most immediately advantageous to them. With this 
magnanimous intention he retired to Abbotsford, where he set to work 
with a determined applicability that showed he considered every mo- 
ment mis-spent which did not contribute to the accomphshment of his 
object. In fact, his intense anxiety may be said to have amounted to a 
passion ; and it is known that at this period he generally worked for 
ten or twelve hours per day, and frequently fourteen ! The effects of 
this superhuman labour began speedily to show themselves. He be- 
came unable to take even a moderate portion of exercise without ex- 

* It must be mentioned, to the credit of all parties concerned, that Earl Grey's 
government offered him a pension sufficient to make up the full amount of the 
usual salary : this Scott firmly declined j and the creditors, although perfectly 
entitled to remonstrate, did not once urge him to do violence to his political pre- 
dilections. 3 B 



394 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

haustion. His speech began to be affected; his contracted right foot 
became more painful, — in short, evident indications of approaching ge- 
neral paralysis manifested themselves. The best medical advice was 
called in, but his disease was beyond the reach of the healing art : it 
may be called a fever of thought, — it was only by moderating the fer- 
vid current of his ideas, that the bodily distemper could be alleviated, 
and to do this, defied the skill of pharmacy. His physicians remon- 
strated with him upon the dangerous tendency of such continual and 
arduous mental labour, but their advice was of little use, and in fact it 
seemed beyond his power to comply with it. Dr. Abercrombie, of 
Edinburgh, one day urged him most anxiously upon the necessity of 
moderating his exertions; "Sir Walter," said he, "you must not write 
so constantly; really, sir, you must not work." "I tell you what it is, 
Doctor," replied the invalid, " Molly, when she puts the kettle on, may 
just as well say, ' Kettle, kettle, don't boil !' " The kind physician was 
at last compelled to threaten him with the probability of a fatal issue, if 
he persisted in keeping his mind so continually on the stretch. This 
intimation seems at the time to have had some effect upon him, as we 
see by a letter to a friend in Edinburgh, a few days afterwards, the 
original of which is now before us. It is dated March 7th, 1831, and, 
curious to say, the penmanship is much more legible and firm than 
most we have seen penned by him in his " best days." The passage 
alluding to his illness is as follows : — " Dr. Abercrombie threatens me 
with death if I write so much; and die, I suppose, I must, if I give it up 
suddenly. I must assist Lockhart a little, for you are aware of our 
connexion, and he has always showed me the duties of a son ; but, ex- 
cept that, and my own necessary work at the edition of the Waverley 
novels, as they call them, I can hardly pretend to be writing any thing, 
— for after all, this same dying is a ceremony one would put off as long 
as they could." The rest of the letter is penned in a cheerful and even 
happy strain, alluding to the delight he had experienced from the recent 
visit of two mutual friends — ladies — to one of whom he had presented 
words for a Celtic air, of which she had expressed admiration. It was 
only a few days after this, that he received a shock from an occur- 
rence, before slightly alluded to, which, beyond doubt, contributed 
greatly to shake his enfeebled powers of mind and body, and hasten the 
melancholy catastrophe which soon afterwards overtook him. 

It need scarcely be mentioned that, as a high tory, Scott, like many 
other well meaning men, (as must be allowed,) contemplated with hor- 
ror and alarm the measure of reform introduced into the House of Com- 
mons by Lord John Russell, in March, 1831, exceeding, as it did, in 
its provisions, even what the warmest advocates of the cause had anti- 
cipated. Immediately upon its divulgement, the freeholders of Rox- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 395 

burghshire, who, with few exceptions, were decided tories, held a meet- 
ing at Jedburgh, for the purpose of considering what was to be done in 
reference to the proposed change in the constitution; and Scott, al- 
though in the state of health we have described, thought himself bound 
to attend, and, as a sacred duty, record his condemnation of an act, 
which was tantamount to a revolution in the political condition of Bri- 
tain. "A gentleman who was present on this occasion," says Mr. 
Chambers, "described his face as shrunken, ill-coloured, and unhealthy 
— his voice hollow and tremulous, and his whole frame feeble, shaken, 
and diminished. But, continued our informant, the leaven of lion-heart 
was still strong within him. He sat in evident disquiet during the 
speeches of the ministerialists, till near the end of the meeting. He 
then rose with much of his wonted dignity, when addressing an assem- 
bly, (for you know his manner then is eminently noble and graceful,) 
and told the meeting that he had come there that day with great reluc- 
taiice, and at much personal inconvenience, as he had been for some 
time contending with severe indisposition. — 'But, gentlemen,' said he, 
clenching his iron fist, and giving it an energetic downward motion, 
' had I known that I should shed my blood on these boards, I would 
have spent my last breath in opposing this measure.' He proceeded 
farther to argue the inexpediency of following French political fashions, 
and ended by saying, ' I must take leave of you, gentlemen, and I shall 
do it in the well-known adage of the gladiator to the emperor — Mori- 
TCJRUS vos SALTJTAT.' In the course of this speech he was hissed by a 
few individuals who were present only as auditors — of which he took 
no notice; but in replying to the gentleman who rose next, when the 
sound was repeated, he turned quick upon those who were expressing 
their disapprobation, and said that he cared no more for their hissing 
than for the braying of the beasts of the field. His feelings, neverthe- 
less, were so much affected, that, on his way home, he was observed to 
be in tears; and to the popular insult offered to him on this occasion — 
the first of the kind he had been subjected to in his life — together with 
his strong and excited feelings of evil augury for his country, we hesi- 
tate not to impute the acceleration of his fatal distemper- 
He made another and more powerful effort, however, to stem, what 
he doubtless considered, the torrent of political disaster which threatened 
to overwhelm his native land ; and it was one which, considering the 
lassitude and depression attending declining health and dejected spirits, 
showed the earnestness of his patriotism. The anecdote is thus nar- 
rated by our talented friend, John M'Diarmid, Esq., editor of the Dnm- 
fries Courier, in his usual felicitous manner : — " When the reform fever 
was at its height, a small conservative party in Selkirk and neighbour- 
hood determined to get up a loyal and constitutional address, to be pre- 



396 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

sented to both houses of parliament; and, as a matter of course, the 
sheriff of the county was respectfully requested to lend the ultras, or 
loyalists — no matter which — the aid of his felicitous and ever ready 
pen. The baronet accepted the invitation; set to work vigorously; 
plied his task continuously for the space of three days, and in the end 
produced a memorial, or petition, almost rivaling in bulk a single ma- 
nuscript volume of the Waverley novels. That his heart was in his 
words, we do not, and cannot doubt for a moment; and accordingly, 
when the author had said all he felt and thought on the subject, he or- 
dered his carriage and departed for Selkirk, where the parties interested 
were ready to receive him. The idea of having saved Britain and Ire- 
land from a measure that threatened to level every ancient land-mark 
and long-cherished institution 'at one fell swoop,' as Scotland was 
saved from the dreaded infliction of a metallic currency, was no doubt 
cheering in the highest degree ; and thus far there was no disparity of 
feeling, though some of those present looked rather askance when they 
gauged, by a single glance of the eye, the length, breadth, and depth of 
so formidable a memorial. To have read it out and out, would have 
required a pretty long sederunt, and before much progress had been 
made, some one remarked, ' that a paper exceeding the reform bill itself 
in length, schedules and boundaries included, would infaUibly, if re- 
ceived or listened to at all, be thrown aside on the recital of the prayer 
and title,' — a general feeling of embarrassment pervaded the assembly. 
Dr. Johnson tells a story of Addison, which we cannot resist alluding to 
here. The author, or editor, of the Spectator, who acted at one time 
as under seci'etary of state, on being asked to pen some particular pa- 
per, spent so much time over it in selecting happy phrases, and ba- 
lancing sentences, that his superiors would not wait the slow progress 
of mental parturition ; and the biographer adds, that at last a common 
clerk executed with ease, in an every -day style, what proved too hard 
for the illustrious Addison. And so it fared on the present occasion. 
The clerk to the meeting, although peradventure no great scribe, did 
the needful on the principle that brevity is the soul of wisdom, as well 
as of wit ; and strange to say, his petition superseded that of the great 
author of Waverley. But the cream of the story follows. The baro- 
net himself felt nowise displeased; having disburdened his mind, said 
his say, and made a clean breast, he was not a man to be put out of 
humour by ' rejected addresses,' but on the contrary, told every one 
what had happened as a good joke — another striking proof of his ha- 
bitual serenity and equanimity of temper." 

From this time forward, however, Scott's indisposition grew rapidly 
worse, and what occasioned no less surprise than additional distress to 
his friends, — his temper, hitherto so gentle, kind, and almost impertur- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 397 

liable, became peevish and fretful in the extreme. We have reason to 
believe, however, that this remarkable change of disposition arose, in a 
great measure, from his beholding the gradual accomplishment of those 
political theories which he regarded with so much horror, and from his 
strong and excited feelings of evil foreboding for the welfare of his na- 
tive land. In a letter to a friend, at this time, (now in our possession,) 
he says, — "Although it is said in the newspapers, I am actually far 
from well ,• and instead of being exercising on a brother novelist, Cha- 
teaubriand, my influence to decide him to raise an insurrection in 
France, which is the very probable employment allotted to me by some 
of the papers, I am keeping my head as cool as 1 can, and speaking 
with some difficulty. I am much out riding, or rather crawling, about 
my plantations, when the weather will permit." The epistle concludes 
with the following affecting expression : — " I have owed you a letter 
longer than I intended, but I write with pain, and general (ly) use the 
hand of a friend. I sign with my initials as enough to represent the 
poor half of me which is left. — But I am still much yours. W. S." 

The penmanship of this card shows distinctly the rapid progress of 
his illness. The writing is indistinct — the lines uneven — some of the 
words wrong spelt, and the letters of several of them confusedly jum- 
bled together, as if the writer was unable to recollect the due order of 
their arrangement. Yet he still continued to labour on. A fourth se- 
ries of the " Tales of My Landlord," appeared during the summer, in 
four volumes, respectively entitled " Count Robert of Paris," and " Cas- 
tle Dangerous," and he managed to complete the revising, prefacing, and 
annotating of all his previous novels. The two additional tales — the 
last that emanated from his genius — are unquestionably the most faulty 
and uninteresting of all Scott's productions, and bear melancholy evi- 
dence of the gi-adual obscuring of his intellect. In both, there are some 
splendid passages, excelled by none in any of his other writings, but the 
conducting of the plot and action is lamentably defective ; there is a hesi- 
tation in the narrative, and a tedious dwelling on particular scenes, like 
a man of imperfect vision groping his way through an unknown and 
dangerous road, pausing at places where his footing is secure, and from 
which he, with difficulty, induces himself to move onward. In fact, 
while engaged with the last of these tales, the symptoms of his disorder 
became so violent, that his physicians declared nothing but a complete 
estrangement from all mental labour, and that for a considerable time, 
could afford him the slightest chance of recovery. The only possible 
means of accomplishing this, seemed to be, by removing him entirely 
away from the scenes of his previous labours, and from all the exciting 
associations therewith connected, — and a residence in Italy was recom- 
mended. When this proposal was made to him, he expressed the ut- 



398 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

most repugnance to it — plainly stating his conviction that he would die 
during the probation of the experiment, and expressing the liveliest fears, 
that his bones would, — to use the expression of our national ballad — 
" be laid far from the Tweed." By the urgent importunity of friends, 
he was at last induced to consent : but a new difficulty presented itself, 
— a requisite mode of accomplishing the journey. The invalid was ut- 
terly unfit for bearing the jolting over the rough roads of France and 
Italy, and it seemed impossible to find a suitable conveyance by sea. In 
this dilemma, the natural anxiety of his publisher, Mr. Cadell, suggested 
to him the possibility of procuring a passage in a man-of-war, and he 
accordingly wrote to Captain Basil Hall, then in London, soliciting his 
interest with the government in obtaining this favour; and so zealously 
did that scientific individual bestir himself in the matter, that in three 
hours after receiving Mr. Cadell's letter, he had got the required object 
accomplished, and was enabled to write an answer by the same day's 
post, communicating that his majesty had ordered a free passage to 
Malta for Sir Walter and his daughter, in the Barham frigate. As the 
vessel was then busily preparing for her voyage, no time was to be lost, 
and Sir Walter accordingly bade adieu to Abbotsford in October, with a 
melancholy, — and, alas! truthful, — foreboding of the fate which await- 
ed him. Of this sorrowful presage he has left an affecting testimonial 
in the following postscript to the last of his productions, " Castle Dan- 
gerous :" — 

" The gentle reader is acquainted that these are, in all probability, the 
last tales which it will be the lot of the author to submit to the public. 
He is now on the eve of visiting foreign parts ; a ship of war is com- 
missioned by its royal master to carry the author of Waverley to cH- 
mates in which he may possibly obtain such a restoration of health as 
may serve him to spin his thread to an end in his own country. Had 
he continued to prosecute his usual litei'ary labours, it seems indeed pro- 
bable that, at the term of years he has already attained, the bowl, to 
use the pathetic language of scripture, would have been broken at the 
fountain ; and little can one, who has enjoyed on the whole an uncom- 
mon share of the most inestimable of worldly blessings, be entitled to 
complain, that life, advancing to its period, should be attended with its 
usual proportion of shadows and storms. They have affected him at 
least in no more painful manner than is inseparable from the discharge 
of this part of the debt of humanity. Of those whose relation to him in 
the ranks of life might have insured him their sympathy under indis- 
position, many are now no more; and those who may yet follow in his 
wake, are entitled to expect, in bearing inevitable evils, an example of 
firmness and patience, more especially on the part of one who has en- 
joyed no small good fortune during the course of liis pilgrimage. The 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 399 

public have claims on his gratitude, for which the author of Waverley 
has no adequate means of expression ; but he may be permitted to hope 
that the powers of his mind, such as they are, may not have a different 
date from his body ; and that he may again meet his patronising friends, 
if not exactly in his old fashion of literature, at least in some branch 
which may not call forth the remark, that — 

' Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.' " 

One, and certaihly not the least burdensome of the many sources of 
domestic trouble occasioned to the family at Abbotsford, at this time, by 
its master's illness, was the immense number of letters of enquiry which 
poured in from all quarters of Great Britain, and indeed from many 
parts of the continent. These averaged upwards of three hundred per 
week for some time ; and being most punctiliously answered it may be 
imagined what a toil was thus devolved on the family. 

Scott reached London by easy stages, being accompanied by his eld- 
est son and his daughter Anne ; and thence proceeded to Portsmouth, 
escorted by Captain Hall, who, in the third volume of his " Fragments 
of Voyages and Travels," has given an interesting account of all the 
incidents during this journey, and previous to the embarkation. At one 
of the stages, a blind horse ran against Sir Walter, threw him violently 
to the ground, and nearly killed him on the spot. " What a fate Avould 
this have been !" truly observes the enthusiastic chronicler, " had the 
author of Waverley, perhaps the foremost man of all the world, been 
trodden to death by a decayed post-horse !" 

Our author's reception at Portsmouth, and the anxious preparations 
made for his accommodation on board the Barham, were alike honour- 
able to the illustrious invalid, and worthy of the generous liberality of 
the English nation. " The lieutenant-governor, Sir Colin Campbell, 
(says Captain Hall,) and the other local authorities, called upon him 
almost as if he had been a royal personage, to place at his disposal all 
the means in their power to render his stay at Portsmouth pleasant. 
The port-admiral, Sir Thomas Foley, waited on him to say, that his 
yacht, and the flag-ship's barge, were at his orders, should he or his fa- 
mily wish to sail about. The commissioner, also. Sir Michael Seymour, 
offered his services, and begged to know if there was any thing in the 
dockyard which he wished to see." — The lords of the admiralty hap- 
pened to be at Portsmouth on a tour of inspection, and they, too, waited 
upon Sir Walter to learn if any thing further could be done to meet his 
wishes. All these attentions were to Sir Walter, in his immoveable mo- 
desty, fully as much matter of anxiety as of gratification. " He won- 
dered," he said, " why all this fuss was made about one poor indivi- 
dual." During the few days of his residence ashore, however, he reco- 



400 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

vered his usual spirits so much, that, but for the continued weakness in 
his foot, a stranger would have reckoned him in perfect health. On the 
morning of his embarkation, — the 29th of October, — Captain Hall says, 
he had never seen him so cheerful, and even animated. " Ever and 
anon, as any one came into the room to pick up things, he was sure to 
fire off some good-humoured scold about the sin of tardiness, and the 
proverbial length of time it took to get ladies under weigh, with their 
endless bonnets and band-boxes. No one of us escaped, indeed, male 
or female. But there ran through all his observations such an air of 
humour and drollery, mixed occasionally with a slight dash of caustic 
sarcasm in the funny style of his own dear Antiquary, that the resem- 
blance was at times complete. In short, there appeared so little trace 
of illness, that the hopes of his ultimate and full recovery seemed, for 
the hour, to rest on surer foundations than ever." — But, alas ! it was 
soon seen that all this was merely a temporary blazing up of the ex- 
piring lamp. When the ship was getting under weigh, and the hour of 
departure from his native shore was arrived, " I shall not soon forget," 
says Captain Hall, " the great man's last look, while he held his friends 
successively by the hand, as he sat on the deck of the frigate, and wish- 
ed us good-bye, one after another, in a tone which showed that he at 
least knew all hope was over!" 

Scott's voyage to Malta, accompanied by his son and daughter. Cap- 
tain and Miss Scott, was short and pleasant, and his health seemed gra- 
dually to improve during its continuance. We have now before us a 
long detail by one of the officers of the Barham, of every thing which 
occurred during this voyage; but there is little of interest to be men- 
tioned, beyond the fact, that whilst all on board vied with each other in 
attending to the wants, and anticipating the wishes, of their idolised pas- 
senger, he, on the other hand, exhibited the most grateful sense of the 
attention shown him, and seemed daily to gain renovated strength and 
spirits. The day before the ship reached Malta, it made (in nautical 
phraseology) the then newly formed, and since extinct, volcanic erup- 
tion, called " Graham's Island," where Sir Walter landed and examined 
that singular phenomenon with great interest. The enthusiasm of the 
Maltese, upon the ship's arrival, (having previously got notice of its 
precious freight,) was inconceivable. As he entered the town, a public 
officer with his attendants met him, and delivered a long speech in the 
name of the inhabitants, welcoming him to the island, and concluding 
with a request that he would immortalise it by writing its history ! He 
was afterwards earnestly solicited to sit for his bust, but declined the 
compliment, on account of his being so much busied with writing. 
Maltese ingenuity, however, contrived to get over this obstacle. The 
landlord of the house where Sir Walter lodged was employed, and ma- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 401 

naged to get his desk and writing materials so placed, as to be opposite 
the door of an adjoining apartment, the key-hole of which was left open 
— and through this aperture the artist managed to accomplish his object 
— with what success we never heard. After some stay at Malta, where 
he frequently examined with great interest the armoury of the palace, 
in which are preserved several suits of the old knights' armour, he pro- 
ceeded to Naples in the Barham. They passed through the straits of 
Messina, and stood close in to the volcanic island Stromboli, which, 
near midnight, (as it happened,) presented a splendid appearance, being, 
as usual, covered with glowing lava from the top to the bottom. Sir 
Walter was luckily so situated, that he could view the whole striking 
scene from the port-hole of his berth, while lying in bed. In two days 
afterwards, that is to say, on the 17th December, he arrived in the Bay 
of Naples, where, as recently coming from a port afflicted with the 
dreaded cholera, the vessel was instantly ordered to perform a nine 
days' quarantine. This unlooked-for penance was endured with cha- 
racteristic nautical philosophy by the crew ; and Scott, who had greater 
cause for grumbling than any of them, from his younger son Charles 
being in the town, as an attache of the official representative of Britain, 
was the only one who maintained his usual equanimity. An officer of 
the Barham wrote us that " Sir Walter, whose patience and content- 
ment under all sorts of circumstances were imperturbable, was the only 
one amongst us that bore his fate with perfect serenity and even cheer- 
fulness." But time is an universal remedy for all human distresses. 
They were permitted to land on the 27th, and the parting between the 
crew and their precious freight is described to us as singularly affecting. 
The rough cheeks of most of the veteran man-of-war's men were even 
moist with tears, — so strong was the influence of this remarkable man 
in winning the regard and admiration of all who came within the sphere 
of his society. 

Now reinstated, as it were, in the bosom of his family, our author's 
health and spirits improved so much that he prolonged his stay at 
Naples till April, receiving in the meanwhile, all the attentions from the 
natives, as well as the British and other foreign residents, which enthu- 
siastic admiration for his genius could suggest. On the 12th of January 
he was introduced at court, on which occasion, from some freak of fancy, 
he chose to appear in the splendid dress of the Scotish archers — the 
hereditary body-guard of the princes of Scotland — which the natives, in 
their simplicity, mistook for a field-marshal's uniform ; and much mar- 
veling was there amongst them at their previous ignorance of his high 
rank in the army ! Every mark of honour and respect was shown him 
by the royal family, and King Francis gave directions for the executing 
of whatever excavations he might wish to make among the ruins of 

3 c 



402 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Pompeii. With the exception of short excursions of curiosity and re- 
creation, however, he still continued to dedicate all his leisure time to 
writing; and it is worthy of remark, that the last published production 
of his pen — the long and interesting preface to the second edition of 
" Castle Dangerous," with many corrections and antiquarian notes on 
the text, — was prepared and forwarded by him from Naples in February 
of this year. In April, the travellers proceeded to Rome, where they 
arrived on the 21st. There they abode lor nearly a month, and it was 
not a little curious, that during all this time, Scott did not pay a single 
visit to the Vatican, although he inspected all the other curiosities both 
in Rome and the surrounding country, with great attention, — more 
especially the residence of Cardinal York, during his latter days, situated 
at Frasoli, a small village about twelve miles from Rome, where he tes- 
tified great anxiety to glean every particular respecting that individual. 
From Rome, it was intended by the party to return by the Rhine, pass- 
ing through the states of Germany, and visiting Vienna, Prague, Toplitz, 
Carlsbad, Munich, and the other principal towns and cities of that 
empire. Probably one inducement to fix on this route was the prospect 
of visitincr the venerable Goethe, who, whilst Scott was residing at Na- 
ples, sent a pressing invitation to that effect, through a common friend. 
" Assure him," said the kind-hearted old man, " that he will not fail to 
find himself in every respect at home under our roof, and meet with the 
respect and attention which are due to him, not only as the author of a 
host of important works, but as a right thinker and a man of exalted 
mind, who has devoted his life to the improvement of mankind. And, 
as concerns myself, I may truly remark, that this feeling is greatly 
enhanced by the kindred connection which has subsisted between us for 
many a long year." 

It is needless now to speculate upon the interest which must have at- 
tached to this — the first — meeting, between the two greatest geniuses 
of the age, for alas ! it was doomed never to take place. The first news 
that awaited Scott, on reaching Rome, was the intelligence of the death 
of his great brother bard, which took place scarcely a month after the 
date (10th March) of the above letter. We cannot affirm that the occur- 
rence of this event had a pernicious effect on his precarious but seem- 
ingly improving condition, but certain it is, that from this time his health 
rapidly declined, and his impatience to proceed homewards hourly 
increased. The party set out accordingly in the beginning of May, and 
so continued and feverish was the anxiety of the invalid to hasten on, 
that his companions conceived there was more danger in thwarting his 
wishes than even in iourneying with the exhausting haste at which he 
insisted on proceeding. It is said that for six days continuously they 
traveled at the rate of seventeen hours per day — a fatigue which would 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 403 

have tried the strongest constitution to endure. They rested a day or 
two at Frankfort, and it was here, perhaps, that the last of tliose unin- 
tentional testimonies to his universal fame was offered to him, while he 
retained the consciousness of enjoying them. He walked into the ware- 
house of the celebrated bibliopole lagel, with the view of obtaining 
sketches of some of the more striking scenes he had lately passed, and 
which his haste had prevented him from examining carefully in person. 
After exhibiting some views of the scenery in Switzerland, the book- 
seller naturally passed to those of Scotland, and, without being aware 
of his customer's identity, pointed out ostentatiously — a view of Ahhots- 
ford! Scott smiled sadly, and merely observing that he " had already 
a faithful picture of that spot," (meaning doubtless in his own heart,) 
walked off with his other purchases without discovering himself. From 
that hour, he traveled almost unremittingly till he got embarked on the 
Rhine. It was hoped that the comparative ease of this mode of jour- 
neying would prove favourable to him, but his impatience seemed even 
to increase from the absence of excitation attendant on a land convey- 
ance, and on the 4th of June he was struck insensible by a shock of his 
fatal malady, which would undoubtedly have proved immediately fatal, 
but for the presence of mind of a faithful servant who opened a vein and 
bled .him profusely. Every consideration now rendered his friends as 
anxious as himself to accelerate his return to Britain with all the speed 
his situation admitted ; and in eight days after his last alarming attack, he 
was deposited in the St. James' Hotel, Jermyn street, London. Here he 
was instantly attended by Dr. Holland and Sir Henry Halford, but all 
remedial measures were found to be unavailing. For some weeks he re- 
mained almost totally unconscious — unaware oP'the presence even of 
his son and daughters, although sometimes a smile of intelligence and 
recognition would lighten up his features. At such times his transient 
gleams of recollection imiformly terminated in faltering forth, " Abbots- 
ford — Abbotsford!" and it was therefore by the unanimous advice of 
his medical attendants that, as soon as it was possible to remove him 
without risk, their patient was conveyed to Blackwall and put on board 
a steam-vessel for his native shore. He was quite sensible at this cri- 
sis, and while he was swung on board, made gestures of acknowledg- 
ment and thankfulness for the repeated and reverent " God bless you, 
Sir Walter," which proceeded from the crowd of anxious spectators. 
This was on the 7th of July, and on the 9th he arrived at Newhaven, 
whence he was immediately conveyed to Douglas's Hotel in St. Andrew 
square, Edinburgh. Here he remained two nights and a day, when he 
was supposed capable of being removed to Abbotsford. He was ac- 
cordingly lifted out of the hotel and placed in an easy carriage, at which 
time he showed perfect consciousness of his situation. He shook hands 



404 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

with his medical attendant, Dr. Watson, who had accompanied him 
from London, thanked him for all his kind attentions, and also noticed 
two or three other friends, though by gestures rather than words. But 
his mind evidently continued on the stretch of expectation during his 
ride homewards, and when he reached a point whence he thought he 
might catch the first glimpse of Abbotsford, his impatience to sit up and 
look around for it became almost irrepressible. He at length arrived 
at the beloved spot, but his previous excitation subsided into complete 
apathy and unconsciousness to every thing that was passing around 
him, nor did he recognise any one, until his old friend and factor, Mr. 
Laidlaw, appeared at his bedside, whom he warmly shook by the hand, 
murmuring that " now he knew he was at Abbotsford." After some 
hours rest he revived, and had himself borne alternately into his libra- 
ry and other apartments of his house, and even out to his garden, now 
blooming in all the rich hues and fruitfiilness of summer, and seemed 
delighted with all around him. He continued in this happy mood for 
several days, and even improved so much in his intellectual faculties, 
as to express a wish for passages from various authors being read to 
him. And here we consider it incumbent on us to mention, no less as 
illustrative of the predilections of our immortal author, than as a duty 
to the merits and memory of one of the greatest of England's poets — 
one, whose writings although now, by the lamentable perversion of 
fashionable taste, permitted to be " overcrowed" by the thousand tinsel 
versifiers, who get pay and patronage through the united influence of 
cantering stanzas, hot-pressed paper, gilt edging and binding, together 
with unconscionable impudence — will yet survive, and be read, and 
admired by posterity, to the eternal shame of the present generation, 
who seem altogether dead to their merits: — we mean the venerable 
Crabbe, — we reckon it, we say, due to the memory of both these great 
men to mention, that it was the fine moral poems of the author of 
" Phoebe Dawson" — the tale which is said to have soothed and interested 
the last intelligent moments of Charles Fox — that Scott uniformly de- 
sired should be read to him, alernately with his bible. 

But the gathering cloud settled gradually down, and in a few days 
the great mind, that, as Byron says, had " rained and lightened" over 
the universe so long, at last became motionless and insensate. Yet 
neither the fibres of body nor mind — both so long firm-strung with 
exercise, ceased their functions without a struggle. Strong delirium 
and raving succeeded the healthy operations of the one, and mortifica- 
tion those of the other; and from day to day did this deadly contest 
last, until exhausted nature sunk, and after about fourteen days of total 
insensibility. Sir Walter Scott expired at half past one o'clock, afternoon, 
on the 21st of September, 1832. He was aged exactly sixty-one years, 
one month and six days. 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 405 

The intelligence of Scott's death, long expected as it was, passed like 
the voice of a tempest over Britain, subduing and hushing to silence 
every sound save of itself. The nation felt — 

" A mighty spirit was eclipsed — a power 
Had passed from day to darkness — to whose hour 
Of Hght no likeness is bequeath'd — no name, 
Focus at once of all the rays of Fame !" 

The greater portion of the public prints, on announcing his death, cloth- 
ed their columns in mourning : in several of the sea ports, the vessels 
lowered their colours half-mast high, — in short, there were all the popu- 
lar demonstrations of real grief, usually displayed in courtesy upon 
the demise of a royal personage. The interment took place on the 
26th, and seldom has a scene been witnessed more strikingly solemn: 
not from the splendid funeral trappings, nor even the long train of the 
titled, gifted, and wealthy, who swelled the crowd of mourners; but 
from the aspect of profound grief that was spread over every counte- 
nance throughout the district. At Selkirk, and in the villages of Dar- 
nick and Melrose, all business was suspended, and the signs of the 
traders in the line of the procession towards Dryburgh Abbey* were 
almost all covered with black cloth. In passing through Melrose, the 
whole male population, uncovered, and dressed in deep mourning, were 
found drawn up in lines on each side of the market-place, while the 
bell of the church tolled sadly forth the grief that pervaded all hearts. 
There was scarcely a rood of ground on the long road to Drybui'gh, 
that had not been rendered famous by the magic pen of the deceased, 
and all seemed to feel it : the husbandman left his labour in the field, 
and stood reverently by the wayside; and the old and infirm were car- 
ried to the doors of their cottages, to take a farewell look of all that was 
left of their great chronicler and benefactor. Even Nature herself 
seemed to sympathise in the general sorrow. The sky was hung with 

* This beautiful ruin is situated in the parish of Merton, in the upper part of 
Berwickshire, and was founded in the reign of David I. " It originally belong- 
ed," says Mr. Chambers, " to the Halyburtons of Merton, an ancient and respect- 
able baronial family, of which Sir Walter's paternal grandmother was a member. 
It is composed simply of the area comprehended by four pillars, in one of the 
aisles of the ruined building. From the limited dimensions of the place, the 
body of the author of Waverley has been placed in a direction north and south, 
instead of the usual fashion; and thus, in death at least, he has resembled the 
Cameronians, of whose character he was supposed to have given such an unfa- 
vourable picture in one of his tales." The place of sepulture allotted to Scott's 
family was gifted to them by the late proprietor, the eccentric Earl of Buchan. 
There are only the remains, however, of Sir Walter's uncle, Robert, his own 
and those of Lady Scott, laid in this romantic cemetery. 



406 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

dusky clouds, and not a breath of air was stirring, as if to illustrate the 
truth of the great man's own words. 

" Call it not vain : they do not err 
Who say that when the Poet dies 
Mute Nature mourns her worshipper, 
And celebrates his obsequies." 

About night-fall, the funeral train, which was nearly a mile in length, 
reached the precincts of the peaceful groves of Dryburgh, where the 
coffin was taken from the hearse, and the mourners arranged themselves 
in the following order : 

Head. 
Major Sir Walter Scott, eldest son of the deceased. 

Right. 

Charles Scott, Esq. second son. 

Charles Scott, Esq. of Nesbitt, cousin. 

William Scott, Esq. of Raeburn, cousin. 

Colonel Russell, of Ashiesteel, cousin. 

THE BODY. 

Left. 

J. G. Lockhart, Esq. son-in-law. 

James Scott, Esq. of Nesbitt, cousin. 

Robert Rutherford, Esq. W. S. cousin. 

Hugh Scott, Esq. of Harden. 

Foot. 
William Keith, Esq. of Edinburgh. 

In this order, with the rest of the mourners following in a double line, 
at the head of whom was the Rev. J. Williams, Rector of the Edin- 
burgh Academy, dressed in full canonicals as a clergyman of the church 
of England, the party moved forwards towards the abbey. On arriving 
there, the coffin was set down on trestles placed near the grave, and the 
funeral service was solemnly read by Mr. Williams, amid a stillness the 
most profound, unless when broken by a stifled sob from a bereaved 
relative or early friend. The last rites were at length completed, and 
the group of three hundred mourners separated without interchanging a 
word or even gesture of friendly salutation, each moving away singly, 
slowly, and in silence. 

As usual — the grave had scarcely closed over the remains of this 
great man, when the prying and restless curiosity of the world began to 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 407 

show itself. The most preposterous statements were spread abroad re- 
specting the magnitude of his debts, which were set down by one at 
50,000Z., another at 70,000Z., and a third (we have the document be- 
fore us) at upwards of 100,000Z.! The truth was, that upon a state- 
ment of Scott's affairs being drawn up, it was found that only a comi)a- 
rative trifle remained to be made up. The real amount of outstanding 
debt was about 53,0007. ; and to meet this were the 22,000Z., from 
insurance offices, and between 10,000Z. and 11,000Z. accumulated 
in the hands of the trustees, arising from the profits of his literary la- 
bours and other accessory sources; so that little more than 20,000Z., 
exclusive, however, of the accumulated interest, remained unrealised. 
On the 29th October, a meeting of the creditors was called, when an 
offer was made by Scott's family of the whole of the latter sum against 
the ensuing February, and that for this a discharge should be granted. 
The meeting was very numerously attended, and the proposal was 
adopted without a dissentient voice. In addition to the resolution ac- 
cepting the offer, and directing the trustees to see the same carried into 
effect, the following was moved and carried with a like unanimity : — 

" And while the meeting state their anxious wish that every creditor 
who is not present may adopt the same resolution, they think it a tribute 
justly due to the memory of Sir Walter Scott, to express, in the strong- 
est manner, their deep sense of his most honourable conduct, and of the 
unparalleled benefits which they have derived from the extraordinary ex- 
ertion of his unrivaled talents under misfortunes and difficulties which 
would have paralysed the exertions of any one else, but in him only 
further proved the greatness of mind which enabled him to rise superior 
to them." 

It is thus seen, that Scott, almost by his own unaided labours, had, in 
the course of five years, almost accomplished the great aim of his heart 
— to " pay his creditors every farthing." The amount ranked against 
him in 1826 was liquidated; the interest of the capital only was undis- 
charged, but as that was passed from by his creditors, and in fact is sel- 
dom expected in affairs of bankruptcy, he may be considered as having 
" squared accounts" with the world. When we look back on all the 
circumstances of this case, how noble, how unparalleled, does the con- 
duct of Sir Walter Scott appear ! It is no reflection against others to 
say, that his innate sense of honour presents a singular contrast to the 
custom of the world, and that he voluntarily took on himself a burden 
which almost all others have shown themselves eager to shake otT, and 
have done so without incurring the slightest censure. Cynics will say, 
perhaps, he only did his duty : perhaps so, — but the melancholy ac- 
companiment to this comment is, that he killed himself in the struggle. 

When Scott's will was examined, it was found that he imd perfectly 



408 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

understood the state of his circumstances, and had provided, in his own 
mind at least, for all exigencies. It was drawn up by himself, and is 
dated 4th February, 1831. It enumerates all his various debts, the half 
of which were then discharged, and the means he calculated on for re- 
alising the remainder. He first directs his executors (his two sons and 
Mr. Lockhart) to sell his moveable property at Abbotsford (given back 
in 1830 by his creditors, as a present) to his eldest son, at 5000Z., of 
which sum, 2000Z. to be given to Mr. Charles Scott, as much to Miss 
Anne Scott, and the remaining thousand to Mrs. Lockhart, in order to 
make up her portion (with a like sum given at her marriage) to the same 
amount as the rest of the junior branches of his family. He then di- 
rects that the future profits of the work entitled " Tales of a Grandfa- 
ther," and certain articles inserted in the Annuals, all of which were 
lately written for his own immediate comfort and subsistence, be applied 
to discharge his debts incurred since the execution of the trust, the sur- 
plus, if any, to go to the trust. He next enumerates the means which 
he principally depended on for the payment of all his other debts. First, 
the new edition of his novels, or rather his share in the profits of that 
edition ; then the similar edition (now almost completed in twelve vo- 
lumes) of his poems. In the event of these being sufficient to discharge 
the debts under the trust, the further profits to go towards the redemp- 
tion of the heritable bond of 10,000Z., contracted upon the estate of Ab- 
botsford for the support of Archibald Constable and Company ; the still 
further profits, if any, to be divided among his family. " And if it be 
thought necessary," the document thus proceeds, " that any biographi- 
cal sketch of the author himself be drawn up, to be attached to the said 
collection, I do request and intreat my affectionate son-in-law, the said 
John Gibson Lockhart, who has, during all his connection with me, 
shown me the duty and kindness of a son, to draw up such sketch, 
using in that matter such letters, correspondence, and diaries, as shall 
be found in my repositories ; and I also request the said John Gibson 
Lockhart to carry on and conclude the publication of my poetical works 
as above mentioned, if I shall leave them incomplete, for behoof of the 
said trust, and also, for the same purpose, to correct and cut down the 
Life of Bonaparte to a less size, which may be done with a prospect of 
considerable advantage, or to suggest some competent person to do so ; 
and in general I name the said John Gibson Lockhart my literary ex- 
ecutor, assigning my son the said Charles Scott as his assistant, to spare 
his time as much as possible ;" — a recompense, he adds, being rendered 
to them, either by the trust, or by the assignees under this deed. 

Had Scott lived to the present time, he would have had the gratifica- 
tion of not only paying off the interest as well as capital of his debts, 
but of finding a gradual fortune accumulating to him, without the ne- 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 409 

cessity of lifting his pen. As it is, there is much pleasure in thinking, 
that those he loved so well will partly enjoy the benefit of his labours. 

The public sentiment elicited by the death of Sir Walter Scott, did 
equal credit to his country and to human nature. On Friday, the 6th 
of October, a large meeting of noblemen and gentlemen was held in 
Edinburgh, in the Assembly Rooms, George street, for the purpose of 
" doing honour to the memory of Sir Walter Scott, and of taking mea- 
sures for the erection of some lasting monument of the gratitude and 
perishable esteem of his fellow-countrymen." At this meeting were 
congregated individuals of the most opposite political opinions, at a time 
when political difference was at the very highest ; but every thing was 
sunk in the immediate object of their assembling. It was happily ar- 
ranged that this fact should go forth to the world in as strong a light as 
possible. The youthful Duke of Buccleuch, the weight of whose influ- 
ence was strenuously given to the tory party, proposed the first resolu- 
tion, signifying that "the meeting was impressed with sentiments of the 
highest admiration of the genius and talents of the late Sir Walter 
Scott, whose matchless works have carried his fame into the remotest 
regions of the civilized world, and have reflected on the literature of his 
country a glory which seems destined to be as durable as the language 
in which they are written," — which was seconded by the Earl of Rose- 
berry, one of the most stanch supporters of the whig ministry. The 
second resolution, to the effect that the meeting, " in accordance with 
what they believe to be the general wish and hope of his countrymen, 
are of opinion that a public memorial should be erected in the metropo- 
lis of Scotland to the memory of Sir Walter Scott, on a scale worthy 
of his great name, and fitted to convey to future times an adequate tes- 
timony of the estimation in which he was held by his cotemporaries," 
was proposed by Lord Advocate Jeffi-ey, ex-editor of the Edinburgh 
Review ; and was seconded by his avowed political opponent. Professor 
Wilson. Their speeches were as worthy of their illustrious talents, as 
of the occasion which called them forth. At the close of the meeting 
the subscriptions amounted to llOOZ., and this from twenty-four sub- 
scribers. Amongst the most remarkable of these substantial tributes to 
Scott's genius, was that of lOOZ. from Mr. Murray of the Theatre Roy- 
al, Edinburgh, who thus acknowledged the obligation the establishment 
owed to the illustrious deceased, by the publication of the novels. To 
this fund, his majesty. King William, immediately afterwards subscribed 
300Z. : the Queen of Spain sent 201. ; in short, contributions poured in 
from all quarters. At the same time meetings for the like purpose were 
held in almost every city, burgh, and village in Scotland ; some to con- 
tribute to the central fund at Edinburgh, — others to erect local testimo- 
nials of admiration for the deceased. In America, and other foreign 

3 D 



410 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

countries, similar meetings took place, and 200Z. were soon transmitted 
by the poor Canadians. In London, a great association was formed for 
a more generous purpose, namely, to preserve the estate of Abbotsford 
to Scott's family in perpetuity, by paying off all the incumbrances upon 
it. This proposition was also taken up in other quarters, and for a 
while carried on with great spirit.* 

The result of these subscriptions shows the fleeting nature of popular 
enthusiasm. The amount collected towards the monument at Edin- 
burgh, has, we understand, reached about 6000Z., and from the appa- 
rent apathy of the public, as well as of those entrusted with the ma- 
nagement of the fund, there seems little prospect of the amount being 
increased, unless by the accumulation of interest. Of this, however, 
there is every likelihood; and, some twenty or thirty years hence, pro- 
bably, the British public may be awakened to a sense of their neglect, 
by some anonymous correspondent of a newspaper, asking what had 
become of the guinea he had contributed for raising a monument to the 
memory of Sir Walter Scott, in 1832? Such is the way these matters 
are generally managed in Edinburgh.f But it is to be hoped, for the 
sake of our country's honour, that the scandal may in this instance be 
averted. We trust the British public will not continue to be diverted 
from the immediate completion of this great object, by paltering accounts 
of the wavering of committees between the choice of an obelisk or a 
cenotaph, — a group or a bust. We will not presume to dictate to the 
public taste in such a question, but we say, that sufficient funds are 
procured to raise a noble monument of some description, and that it 

* In noticing these subscriptions, we cannot help adverting to one circum- 
stance which must prove a source of lasting regret to all who may hereafter 
visit the shrine of Abbotsford: namely, that the manuscripts of the novels are 
not preserved amongst its archives. The greatest part of these interesting docu- 
ments became, of course, the property of the assignees of Messrs. Constable and 
Company, to whom the trustees for the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, offered 
lOOOL for them; but this sum was rejected. The MSS. were afterwards offered 
to the British Museum, the trustees of which refused to give the price asked; 
and after repeated attempts to find a private purchaser, they were at last brought 
to public sale, in the beginning of 1832, by Mr. Evans, Pall- Mall, and disposed 
of to various purchasers for little more than 300/. ! " Rob Roy" brought the 
highest price, 50Z.; the "Antiquary," and " Peveril of the Peak," 421. each; 
" Old Mortality," 33Z.; " Guy Mannering," 271. 10s.; "Monastery," 181. 18s.; 
"Waverley," 181.; "Kenilworth," 171.; "Fortunes of Nigel," 16Z. 16s.; "Bride 
of Lammermoor," 141. 14s.; "Abbot," 141.; and "Ivanhoe," and "The Pirate," 
121. each ! The fate of those documents is said to have caused Scott excessive 
vexation. 

t Witness that strange affair on the Caiton Hill, said to be a monument to 
Burns, which has stood unfinished for years for the want of a few pounds to o-et 
the surrounding space cleared and enclosed ! 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 411 

concerns the credit of every man in Scotland, that their capital should 
no longer be without some memorial of the greatest man that ever was 
within its walls. 

Respecting what is called the " Abbotsford Subscription," we under- 
stand that enough has been collected to pay off the 10,000Z. bond, 
which, we presume, will be forthwith done. It is pleasing to think that 
by this means, and the accumulating profits of the new editions of the 
works, the property will not only be preserved in the family, but its 
future possessors fully enabled to sustain the rank becoming the heir of 
one of the proudest names which Scotland ever boasted.* 



Our task is now ended ; for we have given, in the course of our Me- 
moir, such ample matter illustrative of the character of its subject, in 
whatever point of view it can be regarded, that any retrospective sum- 
mary here would be matter of supererogation. That Sir Walter Scott 
was the most wonderful man of his age, has long been universally al- 
lowed. That he was also one of the best of men, we trust we have 
sufficiently shown. If we have, in any part, failed to satisfy the expec- 
tation of our readers, we hope it will also be remembered, that our task 
has been that of exhibiting the character and career of a man, to do full 
justice to whose genius and merits would require a capacity as un- 
bounded, and a pen as felicitous as his own. 

* The surviving children of Sir Walter Scott are, — Sir Walter Scott, major 
of the 15th hussars; Mrs. Lockhart; and Mr. Charles Scott, of the Foreign Of- 
fice, now an attach6 of an embassy to Madrid. Miss Anne Scott, who, from the 
time of her father's death, received from the royal purse a pension of 200Z. 
a-year, died at Mr. Lockhart's house in London, of brain fever, on the 24th of 
May, 1833. 



THE END. 



WORKS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

The following list, showing the amount of the literary labours of Sir 
Walter Scott, forms a suitable supplement to his life. We insert it here 
as a document for reference which many will be glad to preserve. 

WORKS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, Bart. 

POEMS. 

Published in Vols. 

1802-3 Minstrelsy of the Scotish Border 3 



1804 Sir Tristrem . . .1 

1805 Lay of tiie Last Minstrel . 1 

1808 Marmion . . .1 

1809 The Lady of the Lake . . 1 
1811 Don Rodericli . . .1 

1813 Rokeby . . . .1 

1814 The Lord of the Isles . . 1 
1814 The Bridal of Trierman . 1 
1816 Harold the Dauntless . . 1 
1822 Dramas, and other Poems . 2 



NOVELS. 

1814 Waverley . . .3' 

1815 Guy Mannering . . .3 

1816 ' The Antiquary . . .3 
1816 Black Dwarf. Old Mortality . 4 
1818 Rob Roy . . .3 

1818 The Heart of Mid-Lothian . 4 

1819 Bride of Lammermoor. Legend 

of Montrose . . .4 

1820 Ivanhoe . . . .3 
1820 The Monastery . . .3 

1820 The Abbot . . .3 

1821 Kenilworth . . .3 

1822 The Pirate . . .3 

1822 The Fortunes of Nigel .' .3 

1823 Peveril ..f the Peak . . 4 
1823 auentin Durward . . 3 



Published in 


Vols 


1824 


St. Ronan's Well 


3 


1824 


Redgauntlet 


3 


1825 


Tales of the Crusaders . 


4 


1826 


Woodstock 


3 


1827 


Chronicles of the Canongate 


2 


1828 


Fair Maid of Perth 


3 


1829 


Anne of Geirstein 


3 


1831 


Count Robert of Paris. Castle 






Dangerous 


4 




My Aunt Margaret's Mirror. 






The Tapestried Chamber. The 






Laird's Jock. In Keepsake for 






1828. 





MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. 

1808 LifeofDryden . 

1814 Border Antiquities 

1814 Life of Swift 

1815 Paul's Letters 

1819 Provincial Antiquities 

1827 Life of Napoleon Bonaparte 

1828 Discourses 

1828-31 Tales of a Grandfather . 
1830 History of Scotland 
1830 Letters on Demonology and 
Witchcraft 
Lives of the Novelists, &c. Con- 
tributions to Periodicals, &c.* 



The result of the above enumeration, therefore, gives a return of 131 
volumes of original writing from the pen of Sir Walter Scott, exclusive 
of his immense range of correspondence, notes, and prefaces to the late 
edition of his novels, &c. In the uniform edition of the works, now in 
the course of publication, the whole will form a series of eighty-four 
volumes, as follows: — 

Poems . . . .12 

Novels . . . • i48 

Miscellaneous works, . . 24 

In all . 84 

This, however, does not include the whole of the original writings. 
From the "miscellaneous," will be excluded the "History of Scotland," 
" Letters on Demonology," " Provincial and Border Antiquities," con- 
tributions to the "Edinburgh Annual Register," &c. &c., the copy- 
rights of which compositions are in the hands of various parties. Were 
these included in the present series, we believe the whole would fall lit- 
tle, if at all, short of one hundred volumes. 

* The original extent of these it is impossible, from their scattered condition, 
through the Reviews and Encyclopasdias, &c., to state definitely, but the pre- 
sent estimate cannot be reckoned an exaggerated one. 



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